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These are the places to make mistakes and to take intellectual risks.Robert L. Belknap
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Every Seminar evening produces a renewal of intellectual curiosity and energy and a surge in the power of thinking.Lisa Keller
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The University Seminar is an independent universe. Its boundaries are limited only by its horizons.Frank Tannenbaum
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I have always been a great admirer of this institution, which to me looks like an authentic republic of letters…Hannah Arendt
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The strength of its structure lies in the very multiplicity of its forms; each a small living world in itself...Margaret Mead
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...Seminars provide a haven for the expression of the partly-baked idea: 'a speculation, a question of some novelty…Robert K. Merton
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We have to some extent learned each other's language... to talk together more profitably.Horace L. Friess
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These seminars let participants combine what they worry about as members of the academy, with what they worry about when they read the morning paper.Sidney Morgenbesser
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The Seminars are one of the few places on campus where faculty, from different disciplines, across the NYC area, can come together for open, honest, and sustained dialogue...Paige West
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...Seminars provide a brilliant system for faculty and graduate students of the greater New York area to discuss topics that fall outside the traditional confines of departments.Herbert Terrace
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Because the idea is still alive…it is still a movement. Because it has assumed a shape, it is a community of scholars.Joseph Maier
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Since their inception in 1944, the Seminars have provided a place to experience the simultaneous loss of innocence and prejudice.Robert Pollack
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The Seminars bring together three generations of scholars and nonacademic members: young professionals, persons in the prime years of their careers, and emeriti.The University Seminars
Upcoming Public Events
Abolitionism and the Arts
417 | Eighteenth-Century European Culture-
Susan Boynton began her term as Director of The University Seminars in January, 2023. Susan writes, “The intersections created by The Seminars have the potential to foster fruitful collaborations and creativity, and to help scholars communicate across boundaries and divisions of all kinds. As...
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Dear Seminars Community, We are finally meeting in person, but not without some understandable trepidation. Since our 76th Annual Dinner was postponed three times, we decided to have the dinner and lecture as soon as possible, rather than...
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This book demonstrates that American society today is in a pivotal period for re-imaging end-of-life care, funerary services, human disposition methods, memorializing, and mourning. The editors and contributors outline the past, present, and future of death care rituals,...
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The University Seminars Archive is a valuable compilation of intellectual history spanning nearly 75 years. In the academic year 1944-1945, five seminars began to meet on an ongoing basis; three of those original seminars remain active. Since these WWII-era beginnings,...
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