Thursday, April 4 / 7:30 pm / SB Museum of Natural History

As close as science writing gets to a thrilling adventure yarn. —Newsweek

The author of The Song of the Dodo and The Flight of the Iguana questions whether predators like the Asiatic lion can survive on a planet dominated by humans.

Co-presented with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

General public $12 / UCSB students and SBMNH members $8

Saturday, April 13 / 3 pm / Recreation Center, Pavilion Gymnasium

Samuel Huntington is a University Professor and Director of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard. His book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order posits a radical rethinking of global politics for a post-Cold War world. George Mitchell represented Maine in the Senate from 1980-1995. He served as chairman of both the Peace Negotiations in Northern Ireland and of an international fact-finding committee that examined the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

The Arthur N. Rupe Distinguished Dialogue Series

All tickets $5

Tuesday, April 16 / 4 pm / Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall / Free

The best American essayist. —Village Voice

Celebrated author of the memoirs Hunger of Memory and Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father, Rodriguez is one of our most perceptive commentators about ethnicity, race and class. A frequent correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Rodriguez is a contributing editor for Harper’s magazine and the Sunday “Opinion” section of the Los Angeles Times.

Monday, April 22 / 4 pm / Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall / Free

Director of the Program of Medicine, Technology, and Society at the UCLA School of Medicine, Gregory Stock is an expert on the implications of reproductive biology. He is the author of Metaman: The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism and the best-selling volume on ethical dilemmas, The Book of Questions.

Wednesday, April 24 / 8 pm / Arlington Theater

Wiesel speaks with prophetic authority.
—Publishers Weekly

Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the rank of Grand Officer in the French Legion of Honor, Elie Wiesel is the author of more than 40 books. Night, his account of surviving Auschwitz and Buchenwald, has been translated into 25 languages and has had millions of readers since its publication in 1958. Using his talents as a teacher and storyteller, Wiesel defends human rights and promotes peace throughout the world.

The Arthur N. Rupe Distinguished Dialogue Series

PROGRAM SOLD OUT

The Curvature of Space
Tuesday, April 30 / 4 pm / Corwin Pavilion / Free

Mathematician Jeffrey Weeks is a MacArthur Fellow currently researching cosmology and the shape of the universe. His educational activities have led to a multimedia unit for middle schools that allows students to use computer and video games as a means to explore universes that are finite but have no boundaries.

Sunday, April 28 / 3 pm / Victoria Hall, 33 W. Victoria St.

Fact-based fiction at its best. —Library Journal

Author Susan Vreeland follows up her best-selling novel about a Vermeer painting Girl in Hyacinth Blue with another fascinating look at the art world, The Passion of Artemisia. This novel chronicles the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, the 17th century Italian painter and perhaps the first woman to make a significant contribution to art history.

General public $6 / UCSB students $5

Wednesday, May 1 / 7:30 pm / Corwin Pavilion / Free

Carolyn Kizer is a national treasure.
—San Francisco Chronicle

Carolyn Kizer’s passionate, witty poetry, rife with sexual and social awareness, has graced American letters for four decades. Cool, Calm and Collected: Poems 1960-2000 was named a Los Angeles Times Book of the Year. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for her book Yin.

A Santa Barbara Poetry Festival event

Tuesday, May 7 / 7:30 pm / Victoria Hall, 33 W. Victoria St.

Dubbed the “Indiana Jones” of wildlife science by The New York Times, Alan Rabinowitz is Director of the Science and Exploration Program at the Bronx Zoo. In addition to his research on jaguars and elusive big cats, he has trekked through Myanmar (Burma) making thrilling discoveries.

Co-presented with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

General public $6 / UCSB students and SBMNH members $5

Monday, May 13 / 4 pm / Corwin Pavilion / Free

Rich in sensuous detail, both sweet and bitter. —Booklist

Born and raised in India and now living in Montreal, former journalist Anita Rau Badami has just released Tamarind Woman, the story of two generations of women living in the United States. Her novel The Hero’s Walk won the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize for best book in Canada and the Caribbean.

Human Population and the Biosphere in the 21st Century
Monday, May 20 / 4 pm / Corwin Pavilion / Free

Activist for a sustainable future Michael Tobias is the author of more than 25 books and the writer/director/producer of more than 100 films. His work includes the 10-hour mini-series Voice of the Planet and the lush photography book A Day in the Life of India. Both lectures feature screenings of his films: on May 16, Ahimsa—Non-Violence (1987, 56 min.) and on May 20, World War III (1995, 50 minutes).

Friday, May 17 / 12:30 pm / Bren School Colloquium Room / Free

Christopher Flavin is president of the Worldwatch Institute, a major environmental nonprofit organization. Flavin co-authors the Institute’s annual State of the World book and is co-author of Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution. He regularly participates in international environmental conferences including those in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Kyoto in 1997.