Geneva Visiting Artist & Lecture Series (GVALS)
Geneva College invites prominent guests to campus each semester to support the educational endeavor in which students, faculty, and staff are engaged. Visitors include distinguished lecturers, well-known artists and musicians, best-selling authors, and leading religious figures. While the content of guests’ lectures and presentations may or may not be congruent with Geneva College’s stance on any given issue, the GVALS series seeks to fulfill the Foundational Concepts principle that “[Students] should not be sheltered from non-Christian viewpoints, but must become able to evaluate all knowledge critically, to gain from that which is true and to discard error.” The series also supports the College’s mission to “. . . provide a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor.”
Members of the campus and community are invited to attend lectures and presentations free of charge, unless otherwise announced. The list of upcoming speakers can be accessed through the links below. View Campus Map for venue location.
All events are free and open to the public.
While Skye Lounge in the Student Center is handicap accessible, we apologize that our historic Old Main, home to the John White Chapel, is not.
Upcoming Guests@Geneva
Scott R. Swain (Vos Lecturer) | March 18, 2020
Wednesday, March 18, 10:10 a.m. in Metheny Field House
Wednesday, March 18, 7 p.m. in Skye Lounge
Dr. Scott R. Swain is President and James Woodrow Hassell Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. His main research interests include the doctrine of God, theological interpretation of Scripture, and modern Protestant theology. He has published a number of books and essays on these topics. Dr. Swain is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. He and his wife, Leigh, have four children.
Holocaust Survivor Alfred Münzer | April 1, 2020
Wednesday, April 1, 7 p.m. in Skye Lounge
Seventy-five years ago this spring, Allied forces liberated death camps established by the Nazis to accomplish the systematic murder of European Jewry as part of the Final Solution. While millions of people perished in these camps, some survived to recount the horrors of their experiences. Geneva College, in partnership with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, will host a survivor who will share her/his story of survival.
Alfred Münzer was born on November 23, 1941 in The Hague, Netherlands. Alfred survived the Holocaust because he was rescued by an Indonesian family living in the Netherlands. His father, Simcha, owned a men’s tailoring business and his mother, Gisele, remained at home to look after Alfred and his two older sisters, Eva and Leah.
Past Speakers from 2019
“The Theology of Justice" | November 15, 2019
Friday, November 15, 10:10 a.m. in Skye Lounge
Ken Wytsma is a leader, innovator, social entrepreneur, and author. He is the president of Kilns College, where he teaches courses on philosophy and justice. Mr. Wytsma is the founder of The Justice Conference, an annual international conference that introduces men and women to a wide range of organizations and conversations relating to biblical justice and God's call to give our lives away. Ken is a consultant and creative advisor to nonprofits and a sought after speaker on justice, church and culture. A church planter and lead pastor at Antioch Church, Ken lives in Bend, Oregon, with his wife, Tamara, and their four daughters. He is the author of Redeeming How We Talk, Pursuing Justice: The Call to Live and Die for Bigger Things, and The Grand Paradox: The Messiness of Life, the Mystery of God and the Necessity of Faith.
“Romeo & Juliet: A Love Story You Choose” | September 6 & 7, 2019
Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Bagpiper Theatre
Every year Urban Impact’s “Shakes” theater company produces a fresh and compelling show that asks the audience some of life’s hardest questions. This year, they celebrate their 10th anniversary with an interactive tale of love and fate in which the audience decides the outcome. Can love live? You decide. Tickets are free and available at the door before each performance.
Core Ensemble: Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance | February 12, 2020
Wednesday, February 12, 7 p.m. in John White Chapel
A chamber music theater work for actor and pianist celebrating the lives of the great African American poets Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay, as seen through the eyes of the great muralist and painter Aaron Douglas. The musical score includes works by jazz giants Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonius Monk, and Charles Mingus, as well as concert music by Jeffrey Mumford and George Walker.
Passion and Song: The Voice of Clara Schumann | September 13, 2019
Friday, September 13, 7 p.m. in John White Chapel
A tea.m. of singers and pianists perform a narrative created from Clara Schumann’s complete art songs on her birthday in this bicentennial year. Frequently upon the commemoration of a composer’s birth, conservatories and concert halls give special revivals of that composer’s music, affording performers and audiences a rare experience not only to commemorate an historical event, but also to participate in the creation of a new historical landmark. Because September 13 is the bicentennial of Clara Schumann (1819-1896), the preeminent 19th Century concert pianist, composer, and music editor, it is most auspicious to perform all of her art songs in one evening, arranged to form a passionate narrative, as her husband composer Robert Schumann did when he created his song cycle Dichterliebe. The songs will be performed in German, with English translations and a subtext that will point the audience through the narrative. Dr. David Kenneth Smith is a Music professor at Geneva College who teaches Voice and conducts The Genevans. He is joined by Kathryn Copeland Donaldson, Sean Donaldson, Lara Cottrill McGill, Brian Doherty, and pianists Marie Libal-Smith and Nanette Kaplan Solomon.
No tickets required - free admission.
A similar concert will be performed at Third Presbyterian Church, 5701 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, on Saturday, September 21 at 7 p.m..
“In Pursuit of Truth: How the Framers Protected Liberty in the First Amendment” | September 27, 2019
Friday, September 27, 10:10 p.m. in Skye Lounge
The Constitution Day Speaker, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle recently completed clerkships with Associate Justice Clarence Thomas on the US Supreme Court and with Judge Gregory Katsas on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Previously, she served as counsel to Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand at the Department of Justice and as a trial attorney in the Southern Criminal Enforcement Section of the Tax Division.
Listen to the audio from this event
The Geneva Visiting Artist & Lecture Series is funded through the generosity of the following:
Geneva College Student Develop.m.ent OfficeIva E. Patterson and Dale W. Gilmore Visiting Artist and Lecture Series Fund, endowed by Paul H. Gilmore ‘31
Staley Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecture Series Endowment