Freedom to Read

The Festival was held on the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Campus on June 15 and 16, 2012.

2012 Keynote Speaker

• Tawni O’Dell

2012 Authors

Pop Goes the Academy

As a political science professor and as an author of many books and essays on popular culture, UW-Waukesha Associate Dean Joe Foy brings a wealth of insight to any venue! He has been an invited contributor to The New York Times and a frequent guest on Wisconsin Public Radio. His current research “explores the transformative power that enables popular culture to influence political agendas, frame the consciousness of audiences, and create profound shifts in values and ideals.”

UW-Waukesha philosophy professor Tim Dunn’s areas of specialization are ethical theory and social and political philosophy. He has authored several papers on philosophy and popular culture and has collaborated with UW-Waukesha English professor Ellyn Lem on such topics as the renewed work-family debate, teaching war literature, and on the philosophy and literature of death and dying. Dunn will engage with some of these topics at this year’s Festival of Books in a panel discussion with four other professors.

Now in her seventh year as professor of political science at Carroll University, Lilly Goren strives to “educate citizens of Carroll, the United States and world communities to gain a better understanding of their responsibilities as citizens.” She is an expert on the American presidency within a historical context as well as on the impact of popular culture on citizenship. Goren’s recent interest in gender and women’s studies is relevant to her 2009 book of essays, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby: Women, Politics & Popular Culture. She has also written another book and numerous articles.

A philosophy professor at UW-Waukesha, Dean Kowalski has authored, edited, or co-edited six books, each with some connection to popular culture and philosophy. His Moral Theory at the Movies, for example, uses film summaries and study questions to draw students into ethical theory and then pairs the films with classical philosophical texts. The students see how moral theories, dilemmas, and questions are represented in the given films and learn to apply these theories to the world they live in.

 Associate Professor of English, Honors Program Coordinator, Advisor to the UW-Waukesha Student Veterans, coordinator of the innovative Paving the Path to College initiative, 2012 Lee Burress Intellectual Freedom award winner – Ellyn Lem is multi-dimensional indeed! Her recent work on The Hunger Games series adds yet another dimension, as does her current interest in Reading Cookbooks as Literature! Both of the latter topics will be presented at the Festival of Books.

 

2012 Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books Program

Images from the 2012 Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books