Pulitzer winner Jack Davis to headline new arts and humanities luncheon
Historian and Pulitzer Winner Jack Davis will be the inaugural speaker in a new President’s Arts and Humanities Luncheon series for University of Florida students launching in September at the campus residence of UF President Kent and Linda Fuchs.
Davis’ lecture, “Coming Ashore: Wonder, Creativity and Beholding the Blue-Green Earth,” is set for the lunch Wednesday, September 11, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at The Dasburg House.
“This luncheon series is intended to provide an opportunity for UF’s exceptional arts and humanities faculty to share their scholarship and insights and converse with a small number of students over an informal lunch at our home,” said President Fuchs. “I’m incredibly excited that Professor Davis has agreed to inaugurate this series, and my wife, Linda, and I look forward to hearing his talk and to engaging in conversation with him and with our students.”
The President’s Arts and Humanities Luncheon will feature regular free lunchtime presentations by UF faculty in the arts and humanities for an audience of currently enrolled UF students, followed by an informal Q&A and discussion.
Students at all levels and from all colleges are welcome to attend the luncheons. However, due to limited space, attendance is restricted to the first 45 students who RSVP starting the day RSVPs open two weeks before each luncheon.
Students are encouraged to RSVP for the Davis lunch starting today at www.president.ufl.edu/initiatives/luncheon. Once the attendance limit of 45 students is reached, RSVPs will close. To maximize opportunities for as many students as possible to attend, individuals may sign up for and attend only one luncheon.
Drawing examples from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the Gulf of Mexico and his forthcoming book on the bald eagle, Davis will discuss the meaning and evolving importance of the environmental humanities and the role of wonder and creativity in bringing readable scholarship to the public.
He is a professor of history and the Rothman Family Chair in the Humanities. His The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in history, and in 2019 he was awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship to support his current book project: Bird of Paradox: How the Bald Eagle Saved the Soul of America.
The next luncheon is set for October 9 and will be headlined by Andrew Cao, a lecturer in the UF School of Theatre + Dance, Veteran Broadway dancer and the director of “Pippin,” UF’s 2019 Mainstage Musical. RSVPs open September 25.
Scheduled for November 4: Jill Ciment, author, UF English Professor and creative writing teacher. RSVPs start October 21.