The William T. Patten Foundation presents the lectures under the auspices of the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs. The series brings scholars of national and international distinction in the science, humanities and arts to the IU-Bloomington ?campus.
Three distinguished scholars in each of their respected fields have been selected to speak about the newest revelations in a variety of sectors including the sciences, the humanities and the arts.
“William Patten established this foundation,” Indermohan Virk, executive director of the foundation, said. “His gift to the University was to bring the best and the brightest to campus from writers, scholars, musicians and so on.”
The lecturers for this upcoming year will include Nancy Folbre, James Scott and Jill Lepore, all experts in their respected fields of economics, political science and history.
Folbre, professor emerita of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, explores the relationship between the political economy and feminist theory, with a focus on caring work and other forms of non-market work. Her research has prompted a fundamental re-evaluation of the way economists, sociologists and other social scientists think about the meaning of labor and about the linkage between family and the economy.
She has published more than 10 books, including “The Invisible Heart: ?Economics and Family Values” and “Greed, Lust and Gender: A History of Economic Ideas.”
James Scott, the Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, has research focusing on an analysis of the state, resistance and anarchism, and a reimagining of the history of mainland Southeast Asia.
His books include “Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance,” “Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts” and “Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed.”
Jill Lepore, the David Woods Kemper ‘41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, is most known for changing public opinion by challenging the official version of ?historical events.
Much of Lepore’s research, teaching and writing explores absences and asymmetries of evidence in the historical record. Her current work concerns the histories and technologies of evidence and privacy.
Lepore’s books include “The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity,” “The Story of America: Essays on Origins” and “The Secret History of Wonder Woman.” In addition, Lepore is a staff writer at The New Yorker.
All lectures are free and open to the public and intended for speakers to both engage with audience members and feel welcomed by the IU and Bloomington community.
“What I always hope to see is a greater attendance,” Virk said. “That is the hope of the foundation.”
