1a) Inspired Imagination: Contemporary Art and the Community of the Saints
Fr. James P. Neilson, O.Praem., '88, Visiting Lecturer
Class Description: Throughout the centuries, the Church has commissioned artwork that celebrates the heroic lives of the saints.  Intended to inspire the faithful toward a deeper love of Christ, the Church has encouraged her community to more vivid belief through works of art that surprise and inspire the heart and imagination.  Images of those saintly men, women, and children who have become role-models in faithfully following Christ will be presented. 

1b) Sufficient Grace: The Call to Hear and Speak God's Word Today
Julie Massey '87, Senior Director of Mission & Ministry and Faith, Learning & Vocation
Class Description: We may think God only whispered in the desert or ignited bushes in days of old, but the saints and mystics tell us God never stops speaking in the world. This session will explore the ways in which we can be attentive to the voice of God in the complexities of our lives today.

2a) Physics and Photography
Erik Brekke, Assistant Professor of Physics
Class Description: The camera uses several basic physics concepts to create a good image on the film.  This class will explore the physics of refraction and lenses, explaining how and where images are formed.  We will also explore the common features of exposure time, f number, and film speed, and how to use these to take the pictures you want. 

2b) Pharm on the Farm: Antibiotics in Agriculture
David Hunnicutt, Associate Professor of Biology
Class Description:The FDA estimates that something near 30 million pounds of antibiotics per year are used in domestic animals grown for food production.  There is growing concern that the extensive use of these antibiotics, while cost effective in agriculture, is having effects on human health by promoting the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria.  This presentation in modified from a guest lecture given to the freshman Honors course and looks at how the scientific community approaches such complex issues, why antibiotics are used in agriculture, antibiotics and resistance to them, and evidence that antibiotics in animal feed promote antibiotic resistance.

3a) Climate and Global Warming
Rebecca McKean '04, Assistant Professor of Geology
Class Description: The media presents a distorted perspective on global climate change, often claiming the need to get “both sides of the story”. But from a scientist’s perspective, there is only one side to the story: our planet is warming, and we are the cause. This lecture will cover the science of global climate change. We will examine the various natural processes that influence climate, and then will delve into the impact of humans on climate change. Finally, we will discuss the changes we can expect given continued warming.

3b) The Craft and Art of Musical Composition
Blake Henson, Assistant Professor of Music
Class Description: We travel through and live in a world that is shot through with transcendent beauty—a sacramental world, a world that irresistibly vibrates with operations of grace, and we are surrounded by countless opportunities to be touched and transformed by this “grace-full” beauty on a daily basis. This world beckons us, one and all, to go exploring. And, what it is that we encounter, and come to understand, and find during those forays; that is what we share, in musical form, as composers. Composing is that undeniable inner urge that says, “Here. Do you see this? Can you hear this? Take it, then—it is part of me, and I give it to you as gift.” In the finding and the giving there are magical experiences of seeing things afresh and anew, moments of deep revealing, encounters of profound and lasting human transformation. In this session, attendees will ponder the necessity of composing as response; composing as an act of faith, hope and charity; composing out of pragmatic necessity; and composing as behavioral compulsion. By discussing what it means to be a composer, we will learn not only how these musicians hear and construct sounds, but also how they turn a single musical thought into an expansive and communicative work of art.