Anne Nichols of Rochester College will explore how Harriet Beecher Stowe and Elizabeth Cady Stanton leveraged science and theology to advance the role of women in nineteenth-century America.

2020 marks the 250th anniversary of one of the most important composers in the western tradition, Ludwig van Beethoven. Festivals, Orchestras, Cities, and Towns are all celebrating the anniversary, and the notion of Beethoven as Genius continues to be a touchstone for the composer and his music. What does this mean today? How did this idea develop in the decades after Beethoven's death? Is it a helpful entry into a deeper understanding of Beethoven, or can we use other approaches to better understand this great composer?

David Kidger is Associate Professor of Musicology in the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan, USA. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Exeter. His main research area is in the music and culture of Cinquecento Venice, particularly the music of Adrian Willaert, examining the relationship of Willaert’s music with that of the previous generation, especially Josquin Desprez and Jean Mouton. More recently he has begun a research project on concert life in London in the inter-war years, focusing on the intersection of philanthropy, audience building, music education, and music appreciation.

Come to the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm and meet Dr. David Greer, Professor of History, Rochester College. He will be talking about George Washington and early American Presidency.

Winston Churchill was the greatest orator of his day, the greatest leader of the Second World War, the greatest statesman of his age, and the greatest Englishman of the twentieth century….perhaps of all time. The debt owed to Sir Winston Churchill by the free world remains immeasurable. Yet at the heart of this often intimidating colossus lay a man of vast humanity, enormous wit and boundless humor, much of it mischievous and a prolific writer.

Learn more with Oakland University Professor Frank Cardimen, about his WWII exploits, his life with Clementine, his writings, his leadership in Parliament and his wit….. for this talented Englishman WAS an agent of change in the 20th Century. He was a genius for his time…doing what no other Brit could do to save Europe, stop the tyrant in Germany and engage the people of the UK to stand up to Hitler when no one thought it possible.

The New Testament letter of James has, at times throughout Christian history, received harsh criticism from scholars. Among the accusations are that James lacks a coherent structure and unifying theme, that it presents a theology of works that is deficient in comparison with Paul’s more robust theology of faith, and that it fails to present the reader with Jesus. In this presentation, Dr. Stevenson addresses these criticisms by arguing that the letter of James is a masterful work that diagnoses a disease of the human condition that is just as vital for faith in the twenty-first century as it was in the first century.