University Lecture Series

Growing up Communist, black holes and the Gulf War are topics of the spring 2004 University Lecture Series at Fresno State.

The programs will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Satellite Student Union.

Ludmilla Selezneva

Russian professor Ludmilla Selezneva will start the series on Jan. 27. She graduated with honors from Rostov State University in Rostov-on-Don , Russia in 1978 where she received her graduate degree in 1979 and her first doctorate in history in 1982. She attained her second doctorate in 1996 from the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow.

Since 2001, Selezneva has worked as a professor of history and politics at the University for the Humanitarian Education in Moscow . She has published more than 50 articles and authored or coauthored 10 books, the most recent of which are entitled "Dialogue, Compromise, Consensus (Russian - English)," "Western Democracy in the Eyes of Russian Liberals (Russian)" and "Letters from Ludmilla: Growing Up Russian (English)."

Selezneva has participated in more than 70 national and international conferences on politics, history and government.

Kip S. Thorne

On Feb. 3, Kip S. Thorne will speak on "Probing Black Holes and the Big Bang with Gravitational Waves."

Thorne received his B.S. degree from Caltech in 1962 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1965. He returned to Caltech as an Associate professor in 1967 and became Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1970, The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor in 1981, and The Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991.

Thorne's research has focused on Einstein's general theory of relativity and on astrophysics, with emphasis on relativistic stars, black holes and especially gravitational waves. He was co-founder (with R. Weiss and R.W.P. Drever) of the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) Project, with which he is still associated. He is a member of the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) International Science Team.

Thorne was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972, the National Academy of Sciences in 1973, and the Russian Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society in 1999. For his book for nonscientists, "Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy" (Norton Publishers 1994), Thorne was awarded the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, the Phi Beta Kappa Science Writing Award and the (Russian) Priroda Readers' Choice Award.

In 1973, Thorne coauthored the textbook Gravitation, from which most of the present generation of scientists have learned general relativity theory.

Anthony Swofford

Gulf War veteran and author Anthony Swofford will speak on March 30.

Swofford served in the front line of the U.S. Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition/Scout-Sniper platoon during the Gulf War.

After the war, he received his degree from the University of California , Davis , then went on to complete graduate work at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, where he edited fiction at the Iowa Review and was awarded a Michener Copernicus Fellowship.

His short story "The Snipers" appeared in Men's Journal and his essay "Fighting the First Gulf War" was published in The New York Times.

The University Lecture Series is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, the University Student Union, Associated Students, Inc., Coke and James Hallowell, KJWL, Borders and Piccadilly Inn Hotels. 

Advance tickets are available at the University Student Union Information Desk and at Borders. Tickets are $10 general admission; $6 Fresno State faculty, staff, Alumni Association members and seniors; $5 elementary and secondary students; and $2 Fresno State students. Prices on the day of the event increase by $2 for general admission, faculty, staff and Alumni Association members.

For further information contact the University Lecture Series office at 8-4680 or see www.csufresno.edu/universitylecture.