Many of Arizona’s finest minds help ASA members keep abreast of local, state, national and international events. With topics ranging from immigration reform to health care, from global warming to spicy cooking, from political cartooning to famous murals in South Tucson, twice-weekly lectures bring cutting-edge issues and leading-edge research right to our door.
To see the current list and descriptions of upcoming lectures click here:
During the academic year, faculty from the University of Arizona speak often, sometimes with encore performances of popular public events on campus downtown.
We hear from them about new findings in their specialties, from anthropology to astronomy, to health and medicine, to politics and urban planning. All ASA lectures include ample time for Q&A that is up close and personal.
Our lecture events tend to follow one of these four formats:
Guest Speaker
Once or twice a week we hear from a guest speaker who may be a member of the UA faculty or a Tucson topic expert. These lectures are usually public events with priority seating for ASA members. Topics range across the whole spectrum of interests expressed by members of the Academy, from science and math to arts and humanities, to local history and anthropology.
Guest Instructor
From time to time, an invited expert from Tucson or a visiting professor from another university, or a regional expert will give an informal class with a series of lectures over a span of weeks. Most recently we had a series from cultural historian James Reel, who spoke on the end of the Romantic Period in Paris and Vienna, as well as a series from Carlye Dundon, a docent at the Tucson Museum of Art, who shared encore performances of some of her most popular museum talks. Over the last two years, we had a popular seven-part series on the history of rock music with Dan Kruse, a cultural anthropologist and on-air personality for Arizona Public Media.
Member Talks and Invited Panels
ASA members also share their own areas of expertise with other Academy members. Again the topics span a wide range of subjects, such as immigration reform (convened by members Henry Koffler and Fred Neidhardt with a panel of invited guests), Evolution and Speciation (by Michel Baranger), Energy Conservation in the Home (by Ted Hullar and Norm Scott), Global Diplomacy (by Vithal Patel), Government Secrecy and the WikiLeaks phenomenon (by Mike Maharry, Stan Davis and Virginia Richardson) and many more. These events unfold throughout the year as our members volunteer to host them.
Outings
We also enjoy field trips to learn up close about such wide-ranging topics as immigration and border issues, aging, Biosphere 2, poetry reading and tree-ring dating. For a sampling of recent field trips, click here.