Wash U to Offer Free Saturday Seminar Series

will host a free Saturday Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Seminar Series in February titled "The Quality of Mercy." The annual seminar series features University experts from the areas of politics, medicine, religious studies and literature to address one of the most enduring concepts in social, religious, ethical and political thinking: the idea of mercy.

The MLA Saturday lecture series is free and open to the public. To learn more and to RSVP, visit ucollege.wustl.edu/mercy or call (314) 935-6700.

“The Master of Liberal Arts program examines major themes, concepts and issues from many different perspectives — and ‘mercy’ is exactly the sort of subject that requires, and rewards, its multidisciplinary approach,” says Robert E. Wiltenburg, PhD, dean of University College.

Initiated by the MLA program at University College, the adult, evening and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences at WUSTL, this popular series now is in its 31st year. 

The lectures begin Saturday, Feb. 4, and are offered every Saturday in February. Presentations will be from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in January Hall, Room 110, on the Danforth Campus and are as follows:

• Feb. 4: Marie Griffith, Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, will present “Is There Room for Mercy in the Sexuality Debates? Shifting the Terms of our Religious-Political Stalemate.”
• Feb. 11: Ira Kodner, Gershman Professor of Surgery, will speak on “Physicians and Ethics.”
• Feb. 18: Daniel Bornstein, Darrow Professor of Catholic Studies, will present “The Works of Mercy.”
• Feb. 25: Robert Wiltenburg, Dean of University College, will present “Shakespeare:  The Merciless and the Merciful.”

The classes will be held on the Danforth Campus.