Norwich University Writers Series fall lineup leads with Padnos

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University presents the fall lineup of the Writers Series. All presentations are free and open to the public and held at 4 pm in the Kreitzberg Library Carol Todd Multipurpose Room.

Tuesday, Sept. 26: Former Al Qaeda hostage in Syria, author of “My Life Has Stood a Loaded Gun” and “Undercover Muslim,” and subject of the documentary film, “Theo Who Lived,” Theo Padnos.

Co-hosted by Norwich’s Peace & War Center, the former al Qaeda hostage will address issues of violent extremism from his unique perspective of firsthand knowledge. His stories give insight to what happened while he was in captivity and his thoughts on Islamic extremism.

Padnos will give a brief presentation about his time as a hostage. Afterwards he will open for discussion and questions.

Wednesday, Nov. 15: Award winning author Joseph Mazur.

Mazur is a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Marlboro College, in Marlboro, Vermont. Many of his works have appeared in Nature, New York Times, and several other publications. He has been profiled in media venues such as NPR's "The Hidden Brain" and PRI's "Innovation Lab", CBS, the BBC, Vox, Radio Australia, Radio Ireland, and dozens of others.

Co-hosted by Norwich University’s Department of Mathematics, Mazur is a recipient of several fellowships from the Guggenheim, Bogliasco, and Rockefeller foundations.

He is the author of “Euclid in the Rainforest: Discovering Universal Truth in Mathematics,” which was chosen as a finalist of the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award and chosen as one of Choice’s 2005 Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year; “The Motion Paradox: The 2,500-Year Old Puzzle Behind All the Mysteries of Time and Space”(Choice’s 2007 Outstanding Academic Titles of the Year);“What’s Luck Got to Do with It? The History, Mathematics, and Psychology behind the Gambler’s Illusion;”“Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Powers;” and, his most recent book,“Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence.”

His books have been translated into over a dozen languages.

Thursday, Nov. 16: Professor of Environment, Sustainability, and Philosophy at Western State Colorado University, where he also serves as Executive Director of the Center for Environment & Sustainability and as the Director of the Master in Environmental Management program: John Hausdoerffer.

Co-hosted by Norwich University’s Center for Global Resilience and Security, Hausdoerffer’s research seeks philosophical intersections between environmental ethics and environmental justice. He will be discussing his most recent book, “Wildness: Relations of People and Place.”Hausdoerffer will talk about how wildness surrounds us in urban and wilderness settings and the value of preserving wildness.

Hausdoerffer’s first book,“Catlin's Lament: Indians, Manifest Destiny, and the Ethics of Nature,”analyzed George Catlin's attempt to merge early environmental perspectives with native justice movements during the era of Indian Removal.

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu

Norwich University will celebrate its bicentennial in 2019. In fulfillment of Norwich’s mission to train and educate today’s students to be tomorrow’s global leaders and captains of industry, Norwich launched the Forging the Future campaign in 2014. The five-year campaign, which is timed to culminate in 2019, is committed to creating the best possible learning environment through state-of-the-art academics and world-class facilities and is designed to enhance the university’s strong position as it steps into its third century of service to the nation.

Source: Norwich 9.14.2017