University News

Kalantari to Give Hallwas Lecture Sept. 14 in Macomb, Sept. 15 in QC

August 25, 2009

Share |
Printer friendly version

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL - - Western Illinois University Mathematics Professor and Department Chair Iraj Kalantari (ear-rahjah call-in-tar-ee) will deliver the Seventh Annual John Hallwas Liberal Arts Lecture Monday, Sept. 14 in Macomb and Tuesday, Sept. 15 in the Quad Cities.

The Sept. 14 lecture at WIU-Macomb will begin at 7 p.m. in the University Union Grand Ballroom. The Sept. 15 lecture at the WIU-Quad Cities 60th Street campus will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 102.

Kalantari's talk, "Mathematics: The Landscape of the Liberal Arts," will address the effectiveness and joy in mathematics and its role in our everyday experiences.

"I wish to suggest some perspectives for viewing mathematics that help reveal its striking features," said Kalantari. "By examining the natural belonging of mathematics in the liberal arts, I hope to invite the listener to deliberate on its role in learning and in life."

Kalantari started his career at Western Illinois University in 1978. He has held posts at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Cornell University, where he received his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1976. He has received three outstanding faculty awards from WIU, a researcher of the year award from Sigma Xi Society and an outstanding researcher award from the College of Arts and Sciences.

"Dr. Kalantari is an engaging personality and a renowned scholar. He is well skilled in being able to discuss complex mathematics with people outside the field in such a way that math becomes accessible and understandable. In a day when more than half of all freshmen entering college require remedial mathematics courses, this lecture is certainly timely," said Hallwas, who delivered the inaugural Liberal Arts Lecture in September 2003."

"We are grateful to John and Garnett Hallwas for the time and effort they put in to help us present this signature event for the College of Arts and Sciences. Their commitment to the liberal arts, the college and to Western Illinois is legendary," said Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Susan Martinelli-Fernandez. "I would also like to thank Dr. Kalantari for his diligent work on this year's lecture. Our students and faculty, as well as high school students, will benefit from his remarks."

Past lecturers in the series have included Charles Helm (2004), political science; Karen Mann (2005), English; Tracy Knight (2006), psychology; WIU President Al Goldfarb (2007); and Rick Hardy (2008), political science.



Content by Jeff Dodd, Assistant to the Dean,
College of Arts and Sciences

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing