Hauenstein Center launches two virtual lecture series to replace canceled events

With university events canceled and stay-at-home measures in place, possibly through the end of April, Grand Valley's Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies is making a shift to engage with the community and center members through two new virtual lecture and learning opportunities.

Gleaves Whitney, director of the Hauenstein Center, said that T.S. Eliot could have been writing about modern times when nearly a century ago he described April as "the cruelest month," and said the two new programs will help keep peoples' minds active.

The center will launch one recorded and one live program. The recorded program will be called "Journeys," and will include a series of short, pre-taped videos on a variety of subjects including history, literature, philosophy, religion, leadership and governance. 

"During the quarantine, we may not be able to journey much outside our homes, but that should not stop us from journeying outside our minds," Whitney said. "My approach in these presentations is to inquire, explore and share a few things I’ve learned over the years."

"Lunch and Learn with Gleaves" will be a live conversation via Zoom that will feature a live guest on a variety of topics. The program will be live every Tuesday and Thursday at 1 p.m. on this Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/715140715

The first guest, on Tuesday March 31, will be W. Winston Elliott III, who is president of The Free Enterprise Institute, editor of Imaginative Conservative Books and editor-in-chief of The Imaginative Conservative.

Zoom sessions will be recorded and available via archive at gvsu.edu/hc.

"During the quarantine (derived from the ancient Latin word for “40 days") we at the Hauenstein Center will do all we can to keep April from being the cruelest month," Whitney said. "Let’s stay in touch with each other and keep our minds in good shape and our spirits in good repair."