Amphitheater Lecture Speakers - Post-Journal

Chautauqua 2012Interfaith Lecture SpeakersFROM PAGE 44cy and Political Leadership from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.Tuesday, July 17Varadaraja V. RamanVaradaraja V. Raman, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor ofPhysics and Humanities at the Rochester Institute of Technology.Devoted to building understanding between scienceand the humanities, he is a Senior Fellow at theMetanexus Institute in Philadelphia and a Fellow of theInternational Society for Science and Religion in Cambridge,England. A recipient of the Outstanding ScholarAward from the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science(IRAS), Dr. Raman is currently serving as President ofIRAS. He is the author of several books and scores of articlesrelating the philosophy and history of science, includingTruth and Tension in Science and Religion, as well asVariety in Religion and Science. He received his Ph.D.from the University of Paris.Wednesday, July 18Rabbi Rami ShapiroRabbi Rami Shapiro, Ph.D., an award-winning author,poet, essayist, and educator, is adjunct Professor of Religionat Middle Tennessee State University, and the Directorof Wisdom House, a center for interfaith study, dialogue,and contemplative practice at the Scarritt-BennettCenter in Nashville.The author of over 20 books on religion and spirituality,he also writes a regular column for Spirituality and Healthmagazine called “Roadside Assistance for the SpiritualTraveler,” and blogs at rabbirami.blogspot.com. His mostrecent books are Proverbs, Annotated and Explained (SkylightPaths), and a series of short works called Rabbi RamiGuides (Spirituality and Health Books).the entire 325-mile length of the Allegheny River, whichruns between New York state and Pennsylvania. In 2010Spotz completed a solo ocean rowing crossing of theAtlantic Ocean, in a westward route from Senegal toFrench Guiana. to become the youngest person to ever rowsolo across the Atlantic Ocean, the only American to rowsolo from Africa to South America, and the second womanto have rowed solo across the Atlantic from mainland tomainland.WEEK FIVEJuly 22–28The People of PakistanMuch of what most people know of Pakistan they havelearned from the news: history and events, with perhapssome insights into the culture. People more effectivelycome to know a country, however, through the stories of itspeople. What better way to know Pakistan than throughvoices representing multiple generations and experiences,SEE PAGE 46Thursday, July 19Ali AsaniAli Asani is professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religionand Cultures, Faculty of Arts and Sciences at HarvardUniversity. He came to Harvard as an undergraduate in1973 from his native Nairobi and has been there eversince. A concentrator in comparative religion, he later pursuedhis doctorate work on Near Eastern languages, developinghis dissertation on the ginans, the religious texts ofthe Ismaili branch of Islam.Friday, July 20Katie SpotzKatie Spotz is an American adventurer whose ultimatepassion is to provide clean water for all the peoples of theworld. She works for Kinetico Incorporated, a water treatmentcompany, as a marketing representative and cleanwater advocate speaking to schools and groups across thecountry. In 2008, Spotz became the first person to swimPAGE 45