The celebration of the 30 years of Westover Honors continues this week with a lecture about the rise of the radical right, and then a special event during Homecoming.
Dr. Edward DeClair, director of Westover Honors, will present “The Rise of Populism in France and the United States: Le Pen and Trump,” on Thursday, October 19, at 7 p.m. in Sydnor Performance Hall. The lecture will explore the hypothesis that “industrial democracies are under siege due to a rise of far-right populism,” and how that theory has played out in recent elections.
On Saturday, alumni of Westover Honors will meet in a reunion lunch where Kevin Scott ’94, chief technology officer of Microsoft and a Westover Honors graduate, will deliver a speech in honor of 30 years of honors.
Westover Honors was founded in 1987 as a program designed to give academically gifted students a challenging, interdisciplinary education. This year, more than 70 first-year students enrolled in the Westover program, bringing its student body to more than 200 students. For more information about the history of the program, see this story in a recent edition of University of Lynchburg Magazine.
Westover Honors 30th Anniversary Lecture Series will continue November 9, when Professor Naomi Amos will speak about George and Ira Gershwin. Dr. Beth Savage will speak about satire on December 6. Dr. Mike Robinson will present “Doctor Has No Gender in English: Character Change in Popular Science Fiction and Superhero Texts,” on February 7.
Dr. Lindsay Pieper will conclude the series on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hopwood Auditorium, with “Sex Testing and the Harming of Female Athletes.” This speech will be about the history of the IOC’s sex testing policies through the athletes impacted by them.
