At the crossroads of arts and sciences at Cornell stands a very popular attraction: a Monday afternoon lecture series on "Mind and Memory" that has fast become an academic rite of spring.
The lectures, which are free and open to the public, are part of an English department course, "Mind and Memory: Explorations of Creativity in the Arts and Sciences," directed by Diane Ackerman and open to undergraduate and graduate students. Ackerman, visiting professor of English in the Society for the Humanities, is a renowned poet and naturalist and author of A Natural History of the Senses.
"Mind and Memory" explores the nature of creativity in a variety of fields. The lectures, initiated in 1996 by Professor Emeritus James McConkey, have grown in popularity each year. This spring, up to 140 students are registered for a section of the cross-disciplinary course, which includes the Monday public lectures that have drawn up to 200 visitors.
The expert lecturers -- most, but not all of whom, are Cornell faculty members -- convey crucial aspects of their creative processes, both intellectually and emotionally, whether their fields are in the hard sciences, mathematics, performing arts or the humanities. Except for the week of Cornell's spring break, the lectures are held on consecutive Mondays, 2:55-4:10 p.m. in Uris Auditorium.
The remaining speakers (Cornell faculty members unless otherwise noted), their professional disciplines and the titles of their talks follow:
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