Conversations
on Creativity

To explore the nature of creativity, Initiative for Science Literacy has joined with the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities, the UW-Madison Arts Institute, Madison Public Library and the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies to present a series of forums on creativity in the humanities, arts and sciences. Conversations on Creativity features UW-Madison faculty from a wide range of disciplines, and welcomes dialogue, discussion and exploration.

All programs are free and open to the public.

Conversations from the 2004-2005 series:

Conversations on Creativity

The series is presented in partnership with the Center for the Humanities and the UW-Madison Arts Institute . Spring 2005 programs will be announced in late 2004.

Jesse Lee Kercheval
Professor of English, UW-Madison


Tuesday, December 7, 7:00 p.m.
Overture Center, Rotunda Studio


Conversations on Creativity continues with a special duo program. Novelist Jesse Lee Kercheval is the author of Space: A Memoir . Steve Lucas is a specialist in American political rhetoric, and the author of the widely acclaimed Portents of Rebellion: Rhetoric and Revolution in Philadelphia, 1765-76 .

Click here for a list of books and other reading related to this program.

William Farlow
Associate Professor of Music and Opera Director, UW-Madison


Tuesday, October 19, 7:00 p.m.
Unitarian Meeting House
900 University Bay Drive


Explore the nature of creativity in the complicated group dynamics of the opera with UW opera director William Farlow. With over two hundred productions to his credit, and a long career that has taken him to Scotland, Mexico, and Canada, and throughout the United States, Farlow has directed productions for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, and the Canadian Opera. He has worked with such artists as Placido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Carlo Maria Giulini, and painter/set designer David Hockney. As a singer, he has performed major roles in canonical operas, as well as principal roles in nine Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. In addition to his duties as opera director, he teaches voice and stage direction. Professor Farlow earned his Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition from the University of Texas at El Paso and his MM in Opera from the University of Texas at Austin.

Click here for a list of books and other reading related to this program.

Ronald L . Numbers
Hilldale & William Coleman Professor of the History of Science, UW-Madison


Tuesday, September 28, 7:00 p.m.
Gates of Heaven Synagogue
James Madison Park, E. Gorham and Butler St.

In the context of one of the oldest synagogues in North America, Ron Numbers will discuss the role of creativity in the formation of a science independent of religion. Professor Numbers teaches and writes about the history of science, medicine, and religion in America. He is currently writing a one-volume history of science in America since European settlement, and with colleague David Lindberg, he recently completed editorial work on the eight-volume Cambridge History of Science (Cambridge University Press, 2003), His numerous additional works include The Creationists (Knopf, 1992), Darwinism Comes to America (Harvard University Press, 1998), and Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender (Cambridge University Press, 1999).

Click here for a list of books and other reading related to this program.


Conversations from past years