New community lecture series to address diverse topics

Emory professors will discuss a range of topics including love and sex, youth violence and presidential politics during the Great Teachers Lecture Series. Created by University Relations to share the outstanding teaching of Emory faculty with the Emory and Atlanta communities, the series will showcase faculty from the School of Medicine, Yerkes Primate Center, the School of Theology, School of Public Health, School of Nursing and Emory College. Each lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Cannon Chapel.

The first lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 11, will feature Thomas Insel, director of Yerkes Primate Research Center, discussing the "Neurobiology of Love." The lecture will focus on the basis of monogamous relationships, based on his 10 years of research of the prairie vole, a monogamous rodent.

Additional lectures include:

*Tuesday, Nov. 28 - "Cultivating Communities of Compassion." Rebecca Chopp, dean of faculty and academic affairs, and professor of systematic theology at the School of Theology. Chopp will identify the need in American and global society for fashioning and forming communities to which people can belong. She will look at resources in literature, culture and religion for life together in community.

*Tuesday, Jan. 23 - "When Seeds of Tragedy Grow Love: Responding to the Epidemic of Youth Homicide." Stephen Thomas, associate professor of community health and director of the Minority Health Research Laboratory, School of Public Health; and Bernadette Leite, founder and director of Kids Alive and Loved (KAL). Thomas and Leite will discuss the importance of understanding the messages coming from young people and the new solutions to be learned through social tragedies.

*Monday, Feb. 19 - "A Bridge Across the Dark: Readings on Grief and Healing from a Work in Progress." John Stone, professor of medicine (cardiology), School of Medicine. Stone will describe a story of a love affair with the north Georgia mountains that is interrupted by a personal loss. A story of healing brought on by the act of writing is told through a personal journal that takes shape in both prose and poetry.

*Thursday, March 21 - "The South and Presidential Politics." Merle Black, Candler Professor of Political Science, Emory College. Black will review the last couple of decades in southern politics and give his insights on what to expect in the 1996 presidential election.

*Tuesday, April 9 - "A Passion for Caring: Insights Into Dis-Stress and Dis-Ease." Dyanne D. Affonso, dean and professor, School of Nursing. Affonso will examine the proactive approach into common forms of distress and disease.

For more information, call 727-6216.

--Aimee Anderson