On Sunday, Oct. 28, University College at Fairfield University presents One Day University, a daylong educational opportunity featuring a distinguished faculty from Brown, Harvard, Columbia and Yale. This outstanding group of sought-after professors will address such diverse topics as why there are so few women in politics, the story of a musical masterpiece - Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, an examination of the crisis surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict and morality and the American Civil War.

Dr. Edna F. Wilson, dean of University College, said recently, "We were very pleased with the positive response we had for last June's initial One Day University program. The commitment to lifelong learning is a fundamental tenet of a Fairfield University education and we take great pleasure in offering this event once again. It promises to be a thought-provoking day and we encourage people to rediscover the joy of learning by spending a day whetting their intellectual appetites."

One Day University, a New York-based educational company, partners with universities throughout the country to present these events, which allow for people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy stimulating discussions on important topics. Participants learn the latest thinking in psychology, economics, the law and political science, among many other subjects.

The schedule is as follows:

• Political Science: "The United States of Men (Why Are There So Few Women in Politics?)," 9:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m. Jennifer Lawless, professor of political science at Brown University teaches this course. The U.S. population is 52 percent female yet in the U.S. Congress 85 percent of seats are held by men. The numbers are similar for almost all other major elected offices. It is a question that Professor Lawless argues we should be very worried about and she examines the reasons for this imbalance. She is the author of "It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office." Lawless is the winner of numerous research grants and awards, including the Stanford University Centennial Teaching Award.
• Music History: "Beethoven's Ninth. The Story of a Masterpiece," 10:55 a.m.-12:05 p.m. Thomas Forrest Kelly, the instructor, is the Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music at Harvard University. This course will consider the piece's meaning for us today and it seeks to re-create, in pictures and sound, the excitement of being present at the debut performance of this famous piece which took place at the Kärntnertor Theater in May of 1824. Kelly is the author of "First Nights: Five Musical Premieres," named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
• Lunch: 12:05 p.m.-1:10 p.m.
• American Studies: "Morality and The American Civil War. Baptized in Blood," 1:10 p.m.-2:20 p.m. The teacher is Harry Stout, the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History at Yale University. The Civil War was not only a war of armies but also one of ideas in which the Union and Confederacy alike identified themselves as moral nations with God on their side. Professor Stout takes measure of the gap between those claims and the war's actual conduct. He explores the lethal mix of propaganda and ideology that came to justify slaughter on and off the battlefield. At a time when our country is once again at war, Professor Stout argues that this perspective on the Civil War offers a timely reminder of who we are as a nation and where we have come from. He is the author of "Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War" and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and the Robert Cherry Award for Great Teachers.
• Middle East Studies: "The Arab-Israeli Conflict. A Crisis Examined," 2:35 p.m.-3:45 p.m. Jean-Marc Oppenheim, the course instructor, teaches history, cultures and politics of the Middle East and of Islam as well as the history of Western imperialism and colonialism at Columbia University and at NYU's Center for Global Affairs. After a century of fruitless diplomatic efforts, inconclusive wars and diverse attempted solutions, a Palestinian-Israeli peace is more elusive than ever. In an effort to gauge critically and objectively the history of the conflict, the course examines the issues, events and personalities that have shaped dynamics between Jews and Palestinians from the advent of 19th-century nationalism to the present day.

Classes take place at the Quick Center for the Arts on the Fairfield campus from 9:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. The cost is $219 and lunch is provided. To register, please visit www.onedayu.com. University College presents the next One Day University program December 16, 2007.

Posted On: 10-10-2007 10:10 AM

Volume: 40 Number: 72