The Voices of Culture is a non-partisan, broad-based academic forum that values diversity of thought and background, openness and insight, and depth of understanding. It sees itself as the agora of American life and discourse, sponsoring lecture series', conferences, performances, and interdisciplinary collaborations in order to countenance good will and engender unifying ideas of inclusion and togetherness.
The Voices of Culture Lecture Series is an ongoing collaboration between ACII and the Center for the Philosophy of Freedom. The series brings high level national speakers to the University of Arizona to address compelling issues within today's cultural environment.
Robert George and Cornel West
ROBERT GEORGE AND CORNEL WEST
"Lift Every Voice: Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Discussion."
Lecture Description: Professors George and West discuss the need to maintain good will and amity in political discourse, even in the midst of strong disagreements.
Date: February 15, 2021
Books mentioned in the talk:
The Conservative Sensibility by George F. Will
https://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Sensibility-George-F-Will/dp/0316480932
Morality: by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
https://www.amazon.com/Morality/dp/1473617316
Democracy America: by Alexis de Tocqueville
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-America-Alexis-Tocqueville/dp/0226805360
Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism: by Sheldon Wolin
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X
Race Matters: by Cornel West
https://www.amazon.com/Race-Matters-Cornel-West/dp/0679749861
LI ZHAO SCHOOLLAND
“What Made Me Not Ticklish”
Date: January 19, 2021
Lecture Description: Li Zhao Schoolland, Director of External Relations Asia-Pacific at the Acton Institute, talks about her experience growing up in Communist China.
Photo Credit: Merion West
TYLER COWEN
"Is Commerce Still Good for Culture? A View from 2020"
Date: Thursday, November 12th
Lecture Description: Professor Cowen discusses the relationship between the arts and commercial activity in light of the wide-ranging virtual environment that presently exists, with an emphasis on newer media platforms such as film and online music.
Photo Credit: Magatte Wade
MAGATTE WADE
"The Morality of Entrepreneurship"
Date: Monday October 5, 2020
Lecture Description: Magatte Wade is a serial entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and visionary business leader with a passion for creating positive change in Africa. She is dedicated to reducing racial discrimination while creating jobs and prosperity in her home country of Senegal. For Ms. Wade, business is not the corrupt mechanism that allows capitalist countries to subjugate the poor, the the only hope in bringing prosperity, safety, and personal fulfillment to the African continent.
Photo Credit: The Eric Metaxas Radio Show
Myron Magnet
"The Founders at Home: A Constitution Day Talk"
Date: September 17, 2020
Lecture Description: Myron Magnet, award-winning author and Editor-at-Large at City Journal, offers fresh insight into why the American experiment resulted in over two centuries of unprecedented freedom and prosperity.
Photo Credit: The King's College
Rachel Ferguson and Anthony B. Bradley
"Black lives matter: Creating a Better Future"
Date: August 14, 2020
Lecture Description: Rachel Ferguson, Professor of Managerial Philosophy Lindenwood University, Director, Liberty and Ethics Center, and Anthony B. Bradley, Professor of Religious Studies The King’s College, Director, Center For The Study of Human Flourishing discuss ways to move the conversation and the country forward on issues of race and inequality.
Moderators: Honorable Ronald A. Wilson and Professor David Schmidtz
Photo Credit: Vernon Smith
VERNON SMITH
“Classical Economics Lost and Found: The Role of Experiments”
March 12, 2020
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Vernon Smith is the George L. Argyros Endowed Chair in Finance and Economics at Chapman University and Nobel Prize Winner in Economic Science, 2002
Photo Credit: randybarnett.com
RANDY BARNETT
“Are We A Democracy or a Republic—And Why Does It Matter?”
March 4, 2020
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Randy Barnett is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor or Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center
Photo Credit: Robert Frank - Cornell University
ROBERT FRANK
“Behavioral Contagion and the Climate Crisis”
February 7, 2020
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Robert Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and Economics at Cornell University
Photo Credit: Roger Kimball - The Bradley Foundation
ROGER KIMBALL
“Wokeness, Free Speech, and the Role of Education”
January 30, 2020
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Roger Kimball is the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion and the publisher of Encounter Books
Photo Credit: Bob Chitester - St. Louis Magazine
BOB CHITESTER
“Milton and Rose Friedman, Me, and Poetry”
November 13, 2019
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Bob Chitester is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Free To Choose ® Network
Photo Credit: Clint Bolick - The Weekly Standard
CLINT BOLICK
“American Exceptionalism and the Rule of Law”
September 17, 2019
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Clint Bolick is Associate Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court
Photo Credit: Michael Munger - Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy
MICHAEL MUNGER
“The Future of Public Goods”
August 28, 2019
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Michael Munger is Professor of Political Science and Director of the PPE Certificate Program at Duke University
photo credit: Danielle Allen - The Badger Herald
DANIELLE ALLEN
“Toward a Connected Society: How Can We Support Democracy and Achieve Justice in Conditions of Diversity”
April 3, 2019
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, and Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.
Allegory of Good Government (detail) by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338
HARVEY MANSFIELD
"The Value of Free Speech"
Lecture Description: Professor Mansfield discusses the value of free speech, understood as foundational to the right of free speech. Beyond the question of how far the right of free speech extends, we need to consider why free speech is valuable. Is some free speech more valuable than others? Drawing on his seminal works on Machiavelli and Tocqueville, political philosophy, and contemporary politics, Dr. Mansfield makes the case for encouraging a culture of free inquiry both in higher education and in terms of our political discourse in general.
February 21, 2019
5:00 pm – Kiva Auditorium – University of Arizona Campus
Harvey C. Mansfield is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard.
Photo Credit: TED2016 - Arthur Brooks
ARTHUR BROOKS
"The Art of Happiness"
Lecture Description: How does human happiness change over a lifetime? How can you build a life that results in deep and lasting happiness? Arthur Brooks weaves together prominent works of art, music, poetry, Eastern and Western philosophy, and the latest in the science of human happiness.
January 23, 2019
5:00 pm – Center for Creative Photography Room 108 – University of Arizona Campus
Arthur C. Brooks is an American social scientist, musician, and columnist for The New York Times. He is the president of the American Enterprise Institute.
video to his book Love Your Enemies
Tucson Museum of Art - Eric Gibson
ERIC GIBSON
"Have We Forgotten How to Look?"
Lecture Description: Among its many revolutions, the digital age has altered our relationship to visual information-- how we take it in and process it, as well as our expectations of it. What are the consequences of this for the experience and understanding of art?
October 29-30, 2018
5:15 pm – ILC 120 – University of Arizona Campus
Eric Gibson is editor of the Leisure & Arts page of The Wall Street Journal. He was formerly the executive editor of ARTnews and art critic for the Washington Times.
Photo Credit: Center for Political Thought & Leadership - Heather Mac Donald
HEATHER MAC DONALD
"Academic Narcissism and the Attack on Humanistic Learning"
Lecture Description: Ms. Mac Donald discusses how, in the face of a radical push for diversity on college campuses, the West’s cultural inheritance remains indispensable to a strong academic curriculum and necessary for a robust cultural education.
February 25, 2018
3:00 PM - Fred Fox School of Music, Room 146 - The University of Arizona
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a New York Times bestselling author.