November 4, 2004

Ryan, Habermas, NBC’s Bazell will give talks

Former Gov. Ryan on capital punishment

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan will deliver a keynote address Nov. 5 at the School of Law during a day-long symposium that will bring together professors and practitioners to discuss the impact of wrongful convictions on the capital punishment debate.

The symposium, hosted by the student-run Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the School of Law, 357 E. Chicago Ave. It is free and open to the public.

Ryan will deliver his address, “From Death to Life,” at 12:30 p.m.

Ryan changed the course of death penalty history and rose to national prominence in 2002 when he instituted the nation’s first moratorium on state executions, pending a review of the capital judicial process.

Philosopher Habermas on foreign policy

Jürgen Habermas — Germany’s preeminent living philosopher and a public intellectual on the order of Jean-Paul Sartre in post-World War II France or John Dewey in the American tradition — will deliver a free, public lecture Nov. 5.

A visiting professor at Northwestern for 10 years, Habermas will provide a European perspective of the future of international law and its implications for American foreign policy.

The lecture will take place at 4 p.m. in 217 Fisk Hall at the Medill School of Journalism.

Habermas is a world-renowned social and political philosopher whose influence has been felt in virtually every discipline in the humanities and social sciences. He has won many of Europe’s most prestigious awards, including the Sonning Prize of Denmark.

NBC News’ Bazell on medicine, media

Robert Bazell, NBC News chief health and science correspondent, will be the lecturer at the ninth annual Frances Feinberg Memorial Lecture Nov. 15 at the Feinberg Pavilion, third floor, 251 E. Huron St.

There will be a reception at 4:30 p.m., followed by Bazell’s lecture, “Medicine and the Media: Deciding How Much Is Too Much?” at 5:30 p.m.

The lecture series, which is presented each year by the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute of Northwestern University, is named in honor of the late Mrs. Reuben Feinberg, a major supporter of the arts, sciences and education.

Bazell has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Peabody Award. His reports appear on the NBC Nightly News, the Today Show and Dateline NBC.

Geneticist Kittles on genetic ancestry

Geneticist Rick Kittles, associate professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics at the Ohio State University Medical Center, will deliver the Center for Genetic Medicine Silverstein Lectures Nov. 16-17.

Kittles is at the forefront of efforts to use DNA to trace ancestry. The lectures are free and open to the public.

The lectures will be Nov. 16 at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art and Nov. 17 in the Pritzker Auditorium at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, third floor, 251 E. Huron. Both talks begin at 6:30 p.m. A 5:30 p.m. reception will precede the Evanston lecture, and a 6 p.m. reception will precede the Chicago lecture.

Kittles’s research interests are in genetic effects on complex traits and diseases such as prostate cancer, personality traits and skin color.