For further information, please contact
the Director of the Explorations Lecture Series,
Dr. Marguerite Tassi, at tassim@unk.edu.
Previous Explorations Speakers
Guest Speakers
Dr. Stephen Behrendt, "Losing Oneself in One's Words: Romantic-Era Women Poets and the Anxiety of Impermanence"
Dr. Mark Van Wienen, "Carl Sandburg: Pacifist, Patriot, Revolutionary Detainee"
Dr. Catherine Al-Meten, a talk on post-traumatic stress disorder
Poets Sherwin Bitsui and Michael Dumanis, a joint presentation.
Professional editor and writer Kate Gale, "An Intimate Talk on How to Get Published"
Ciaron Carson, poet, translator, and critic, “Turn Bull and the Horse’s Eyes: A Talk about
Poetry, Metamorphosis, and Music”
Dr. Remi Raji, University of Cape Town, South Africa, “Engendering Presence:
The Female Voice in Contemporary South African Poetry”
Eamon Grennan, poet, translator, and critic, Vassar College, “An Irish Sampler”
Dr. Miriam Clark, Auburn University, “Medicine Men: William Carlos Williams,
Kenneth Burke, and the Practice of Poetry”
Amy Hassinger, novelist, “Knocking the World Askew: Making Art from the Mundane”
Dana Goia, NEA director, poet, critic, essayist, translator, “Did American Poetry Ever
Matter?”
Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate, “A Conversation with the Poet Laureate”
Roland Merullo, Novelist, Amherst College, “Writing, Hair Problems, and the Interior
Life”
Richard Murphy, poet, “A Life Among Writers”
UNK Faculty
Kurt Borchard, Sociology, "My Day with Jerry," based on his book The Word on the Street: Homeless Men in Las Vegas (University of Nevada Press).
Jack Garrison, Sam Umland, Janice Fronczak: 'Directing Three Ionesco Plays at UNK"
Gene Fendt, Philosophy, "Aristotle and the Purpose of Comedy."
Pradeep Barua, History, “Perspectives on Religious Fundamentalism and ‘Terrorism’ in
West Asia”
Kathryn Benzel, English, “Trespassing Boundaries: Virginia Woolf’s Short Fiction”
William Avilés, Political Science, “Globalization and Military Power in Colombia”
Samuel Umland, English, “Cassandra Among the Cyborgs: On Philip K. Dick’s ‘Man,
Android and Machine’”
Gene Fendt, Philosophy, “Two Figures of the Imagination and Their Consequences for
the Arts”
Herbert Craig, Modern Languages, “Modernism in Marcel Proust and in Three of His
Spanish American Followers”
Jose Mena-Worth, Physics, “The Kepler Mission: The Search for Earth Size Planets”
Susan Honeyman, English, “’What if the kids hear us?’: The Impact of Cultural Studies
on Children’s Literature”
Charles Peek, English, “The Great Plains Meets the Great Wall: China in a Fulbright’s
Eye”
Robert Luscher, English, “Tradition and Innovation in the Contemporary American Short
Story Sequence”
John Damon, English, “Soldier Saints and Holy Warriors: Literary Images of Warfare”