The Clocktower

As part of the Maryville Talks Books series, Wes Moore will appear at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17, at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis. Moore is author of the book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name and Two Fates – A Story of Tragedy and Hope.

A change in the St. Louis Speakers Series schedule at Powell Symphony Hall has been announced. An unavoidable conflict has arisen on Peggy Noonan’s schedule that prohibits her from speaking as planned on Thursday, Jan. 27. However, Lisa Ling, scheduled to speak on Tuesday, Feb. 22, has agreed to exchange dates with Noonan. Accordingly, Lisa Ling will be our featured speaker on Jan. 27 and Peggy Noonan will appear on Feb. 22.

At 5 a.m. on Dec.13, Donius University Center bustled with people, luggage, coolers, pillows and blankets as 47 Maryville University community members—42 students and five staff members—prepared to leave for New Orleans. Five years after Hurricane Katrina, the group was making the trip to assist people who have not fully recovered from the effects of the storm.

A symposium is planned in conjunction with this year’s Maryville Reads selection, Zeitoun. In the book, author Dave Eggers recounts the events of a family in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina.  The symposium will be held from 10:50 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8, in the University Auditorium. Featured panelists will discuss specific questions, share experiences and react to video and photos from the disaster.

Roy Brooks, leading legal scholar and civil rights activist, will present Maryville University’s sixth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration lecture at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Auditorium. Brooks will address “Racial Justice in the Time of Obama,” which is also the title of his most recent book.

Before the Donius University Center, before Buder Family Student Commons, before Hilltop Apartments, there was The Ranch House — the favorite (and only!) hangout for students, staff and faculty during the early years of the “new” campus in West County. Also known as McNally House, the mid-century modern building served as a dance hall, student lounge, Monday Night Football hangout, BBQ joint — even the home of the campus bookstore. What do you remember most about The Ranch?

Join Maryville friends for an extraordinary travel experience to France this spring. The  second annual overseas alumni trip, scheduled May 8-21, begins at the World War II battlegrounds and American Cemetery in Normandy, and continues to Brittany, the Loire Valley and Provence.  Four nights and three days in Paris will conclude the trip. Best of all, in addition to lectures from local guides, Maryville professors Dennis Wachtel, John Wickersham and Karen Craddock will accompany the group and provide interesting and timely lectures along the way.

Maryville University will hold its annual Alumni Trivia Night on Saturday, March 12, with proceeds benefiting the Alumni Scholarship Funds.  Through this scholarship fund, the Alumni Association helps make a Maryville education a reality for students in need of financial support. Key to the event’s success are event-day volunteers, who are local alumni willing to donate their time.

Maryville Women’s Caucus and the Medart Lecture Series are co-sponsoring a Women’s History Month presentation by local editor Yvonne Johnson, PhD, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, in Buder Commons. Johnson  will speak about her new book, Feminist Frontiers: Women Who Shaped the Midwest, a collection of 11 biographical essays that highlight women leaders in the Midwest who challenged gender, racial, class, and ethnic boundaries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Registration is now open online for the 23rd Annual Maryville University Golf Classic, to be held Monday, June 13,  at Old Hickory Golf Club in St. Peters, Mo.  This 18- hole, four-person scramble has a tradition of being more than a great outing of golf; it’s also one of the area’s top business networking events of the year.