The Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series Committee voted on its list of speakers and alternate speakers for the 2009-10 academic year Tuesday, settling upon a mix of lecturers it hoped will represent a wide range of disciplines.
The committee deliberated over a span of three hours to whittle a list of 32 possible speakers down to eight speakers and nine alternates, though the names included on the lists will evolve over the summer and coming year as the committee begins to pursue actual contracts with the speakers.
“I think the whole process went well,” said Farha Tahir, DLS associate director and nominations process co-chair. “It’s supposed to create discussion about what the goals of this roster and this lecture series are. It challenged us while also forcing us to justify who we wanted to bring for the greatest success possible.”
The list of speakers includes former President Jimmy Carter, Kenyan activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, Bill Nye the Science Guy, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, neuropsychologist Steven Pinker, neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran and challenger of pseudoscience James Randi.
Author and food scientist Michael Pollan has already signed a contract to speak as a part of the Center for the Humanities series next year that DLS is co-sponsoring.
The committee debated the diversity of disciplines and cultures represented by the choices.
“The balance I think is pretty good. We always try to get more diversity, but it’s hard for us to make that work out,” said nominations process co-chair Kyle Schultz.
Schultz, who is going through the selection process for the fifth time as a part of the committee, said the next step is to begin contacting the chosen speakers. Contracts are then negotiated and the long process of marketing the lectures begins.
Speakers included on the lists range in booking price from several thousand dollars to upwards of $40,000. Once pricing, dates and other details begin to take shape, so will the final lineup for the coming year.
“The change is enormous. I would be surprised if even half of the people we put on that list tonight were actually coming next year. Half of them don’t work out because of dates, time, prices, so there is a lot of discretion at the hands of the incoming director,” Schultz said.
According to Tahir, even the production of the list of possible speakers is a long and complex process. The committee collects nominations throughout the year, which are then used to produce ballots with a condensed list of choices.
Both co-chairs were excited, specifically about one person included on the lists. Tahir said she especially hoped Maathai comes to campus, and Schultz would look forward to seeing Pinker speak.
The alternate list includes economist William Easterly, Harvard life scientist Juan Enriquez, Harvard anthropologist Paul Farmer, sociologist Malcolm Gladwell, psychology professor Jonathan Haidt, computer scientist Nicholas Negroponte, psychologist Oliver Sacks, Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi and journalist Fareed Zakaria.
