Explore the life of the mind with Kwame Appiah

By Susan Feinberg

An internationally renowned expert on global citizenship, Princeton University Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy Kwame Anthony Appiah, Ph.D., will present a keynote address on “World Citizenship” at The Life of the Mind, a new lecture series at  FIU.  The event will be held Monday, April 12, beginning at 3:30 p.m. at the College of Law’s Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall Auditorium, RDB 1100, at Modesto A. Maidique Campus. The lecture is free and open to students, faculty, staff and the general public.

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Appiah was named one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 intellectuals and is the author of Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, which won the 2007 Arthur Ross Prize of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has written numerous scholarly works, three novels and several critical volumes on the works on African-American authors. Prior to joining the Princeton faculty, he was a professor at Yale, Cornell, Duke and Harvard universities.

The event will highlight FIU’s Global Learning Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which is a crucial part of the university’s reaffirmation of accreditation with the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges. The initiative aims to educate FIU students about global citizenship and empower them to actively address issues and challenges in an interconnected world. An exerpt from Appiah’s Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers will serve as the common reading in FIU’s global learning courses beginning in fall 2010.

The Life of the Mind series, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, will present an event and keynote speaker each semester. The series’ roots can be traced back to President Mark B. Rosenberg’s keynote address at Faculty Convocation in Fall 2009, when he emphasized the importance of the life of the mind to the faculty.

Before the event begins, Appiah will meet informally with students in the pilot global learning class “How We Know What We Know” and the African and African Diaspora Studies program.

A reception with Appiah and FIU faculty, students, staff and the public will be held at 3:30 p.m. Appiah will deliver the keynote address at 4 p.m. A panel discussion on  ‘The Life of the Mind and  Global Engagement” will follow with faculty panelists Paul Kowert, associate professor in the Department of International Relations; Jean Rahier, associate professor and director of the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies; and Judith Stiehm,  professor in the Department of Political Sciences.

“We are honored that Dr. Appiah, an internationally renowned academic and philosopher, has agreed to be our first keynote speaker,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Douglas Wartzok. “Through his writings and public lectures, he invites us to re-think identities which are based on race, nationhood, religion and sexuality.”

If you plan to attend this event, please rsvp here.