Lecture Series

The following links offer a list of lectures presented through the Center. The Center will gladly send you a copy of any lecture that you would request. At the bottom of this page, simply follow the link to contact the Center and request the lecture of your choice. Be sure to include the Lecture Series, Year, Speaker, and title when requesting a copy. Newer lectures are hyper linked and may be downloaded.

The Alex G. McKenna Economic Education Series Directed by Dr. Gary M. Quinlivan, the Center's Executive Director, this series reflects the Center's strong advocacy of free markets operating in an environment of minimal government involvement. The Center also promotes the idea of ethics. As Adam Smith recognized, free markets must operate in an economic and political system that has a solid ethical foundation. The Alex G. McKenna Series was initiated in 1986. The series brings in four renowned economists per year to address contemporaneous economic problems. The lectures are published under the banner of Economic Directions.

The Government and Political Education Series Directed by Dr. Bradley C.S. Watson, the Center's Fellow in Politics and Culture, the Government and Political Education Program is dedicated to the restoration of America's constitutional order. This order is founded upon the principles of the Declaration of Independence, which professes a fixed understanding of human nature and, consequently, a limited role for the federal government. State and local governments ought to bear most of the responsibility for domestic public policy. As Alexis de Tocqueville suggests in Democracy in America, the surest way to avoid the enervating effects of administrative centralization is to invigorate state and local government and to encourage private initiative and sound personal character. Responsible citizenship is an indispensable support for free politics and a free political economy. The lectures from this series are published in Citizen and Statesmen: An Annual Review of Political Theory and Public Life.

Civitas Forum on Principles and Policies for Public Life Civitas Forum is directed by Dr. Bradley C.S. Watson, the Center's Fellow in Politics and Culture. As suggested by its name, this program is concerned with the realm of citizenship and the common good. The Forum seeks to identify and expound upon the principles of a free and well-ordered society in the American and Western tradition and to examine contemporary issues in relation to such principles. Through an annual half-day symposium, the Civitas Forum brings to campus an eclectic blend of scholars and experts to address ideas and issues pertaining to the restoration of the civic traditions of America's founding and their moral-cultural underpinnings. The audience for the Civitas Forum includes members of the clergy, members of the legal profession, business executives, students, and faculty. The proceedings of the Civitas Forum Symposium are published in Citizen and Statesmen: An Annual Review of Political Theory and Public Life.

Cultural and Policy Conferences Directed by Dr. Bradley C.S. Watson, the Center's Fellow in Politics and Culture, this program speaks to the cultural unease and the sociopolitical problems that are a prominent condition of contemporary public life. Through its biennial three-day conference, the Center focuses on the principles, norms, and mores of Western culture and their relation to the political and public policy situation of modern times. Participating scholars from various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are brought to campus to present papers to fellow scholars, public policy experts, students, and the informed general public. The Center held the last Culture and Policy Conference, with the theme Courts and the Culture Wars, in the spring of 2001.