The 2018-2019 academic year will usher in the 36th season of the Wittenberg Series, which offers the campus, Springfield community, and greater region a diverse selection of guest lecturers and world-renowned performers. Kicking off the Series will be the traditional Opening Convocation featuring a keynote address by diversity scholar-practitioner, Shakeer Abdullah, Wittenberg class of 1999 and current vice president of student affairs at Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia, at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, in historic Weaver Chapel.

The Wittenberg Series was created in 1982 during President William A. Kinnison’s tenure. Since its inception, Nobel Laureates, scientists, significant literary figures, most of America’s foremost modern dance companies, as well as hundreds of prominent psychologists, educators, economists, writers, theologians, urban planners and historians, have visited campus to participate.

A wide range of lecturers will share their expertise with audiences during this year’s Series, including Hillary Jordan, international best-selling author; Ronald Rittgers, author and theologian; Seth M. Siegel, New York Times best-selling author; Adam Foss, criminal justice reform advocate; Elizabeth Fenn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author; John Dovidio, author and Yale psychology professor; and The Rev. Dr. Craig Alan Satterlee, Bishop of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The series will also include a dance concert by Catapult and a vocal concert by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

All events of The Wittenberg Series are open to the public free of charge. Doors open 30 minutes prior to the beginning of each lecture or performance. Below are further details related to this year’s Series.

2018-2019 Wittenberg Series Events:

• Tuesday, Aug. 21: Opening Convocation, 11:45 a.m., Weaver Chapel featuring Shakeer Abdullah ’99, diversity scholar- practitioner, and vice president of student affairs at Clayton State University.
• Wednesday, Oct. 3: Allen J. Koppenhaver Literary Lecture, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium featuring Hillary Jordan, international best-selling author of Mudbound. Colloquium, 4:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium.
• Monday, Oct. 22: Kenneth H. Sauer Luther Symposium, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium featuring Ronald Rittgers, author and theologian. Q&A, 3:30 p.m., Weaver Chapel.
• Thursday, Oct. 25: Dance concert featuring Catapult, presenting an evening of shadow dance and theatre works, 7:30 p.m., John Legend Theater at The Dome, 700 S. Limestone St., Springfield.
• Sunday, Oct. 28: Reformation Service, 7:30 p.m. in Weaver Chapel (music begins at 7 p.m.), featuring The Rev. Dr. Craig Alan Satterlee, Bishop of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
• Wednesday, Nov. 7: Fred R. Leventhal Family Lecture, 7:30 p.m., Weaver Chapel featuring Seth M. Siegel, New York Times best-selling author of Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution to a Water-Starved World. Q & A, 4 p.m., Bayley Auditorium.
• Friday, Dec. 7: Lessons and Carols, 7:30 p.m. (pre-service music begins at 7 p.m.), Weaver Chapel.
• Monday, Jan. 21, 2019: Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation, 11:15 a.m., Weaver Chapel, featuring Adam Foss, criminal justice reform advocate. Q & A, 2:45 p.m., 105 Joseph C. Shouvlin Center for Lifelong Learning.
• Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019: Vocal concert featuring South African a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, 7:30 p.m., Weaver Chapel.
• Wednesday, March 13, 2019: William A. Kinnison Endowed Lecture in History, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Fenn on “Sacagawea’s Capture and the History of the Early West.”
• Wednesday, March 27, 2019: IBM Endowed Lecture in the Sciences, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium, featuring John Dovidio, author, Yale psychology professor, and leading researcher on aversive racism. Colloquium, 4 p.m., Bayley Auditorium.

For more information on the Wittenberg Series, click here. To make special arrangements, request a Series poster, or become a friend of the Wittenberg Series, contact Lisa Watson by phone at (937) 327-7363 or at WatsonL4@wittenberg.edu.