In June 2013, Gezi Park became the staging ground for the most serious challenge to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decade-long rule in Turkey. When police brutally cleared the Istanbul park, five young men lost their lives, becoming official "martyrs" of the Gezi movement. Christiane Gruber, associate professor of Islamic art at University of Michigan, will examine the symbolic framings and functions of martyrs in a pluralistic society shaped by the desire to preserve a secular representative democracy in the face of increasing authoritarianism. Gruber will explore the rhetorical strategies and visual output of the Gezi Movement in slogans, chants, graffiti, digital art, Twitter posts, posters, banners, stickers, processions, sit-ins, and performances. Read more and register at go.osu.edu/gruberc

COMPAS is a series of year-long conversations on morality, politics, and society organized by the Center for Ethics and Human Values. The theme for the 2016-17 COMPAS program is inequality. It kicks off with a major interdisciplinary conference that aims to engage a general audience by focusing on four intersecting policy issues: mass incarceration, neighborhoods and social inequality, health disparities, and economic inequality and democracy. These issues raise important questions about poverty and opportunity, individual well-being and institutional justice, and the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship. They also cause us to reflect on the social and political effects of class, race, gender, and other factors. Richard Wilkinson, author of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (Bloomsbury, 2011, with Kate Pickett), will give the keynote address. Read more at go.osu.edu/compasfall

A world-renowned philosopher, cultural theorist and author, Kwame Anthony Appiah has published widely on moral philosophy, political theory, ethics, and African American literature and culture. A leading thinker on race and society, Appiah's current research centers on the roles of idealization and ideals in psychology, ethics and politics, and his talk will focus on ethics in higher education. Appiah holds an appointment at New York University's Department of Philosophy and its School of Law, where he teaches in New York and at the university's global centers. In 2009, Forbes Magazine named Appiah as one of the world's seven most powerful thinkers, and in 2012, he was one of eight scholars presented with the National Humanities Medal by President Obama. Read more

Wendy Hesford (center left) and Amy Shuman (center right) with students Jayne Van Schaik (bottom left), Cara Clark (bottom right), Afnan Isleem (top left), and Marta Csejtey (top right).

H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, a longtime supporter of global environmental and sustainability issues, will present a lecture focusing on climate change, biodiversity and access to clean water. A supporter of the Venturi Buckeye Bullet and electric concept cars, Prince Albert II is coming to Ohio State to learn more about our research and educational programming on sustainability matters. In 2006, Prince Albert II established the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, supporting sustainable and ethical projects that focus on climate change and developing renewable energies, combating the loss of biodiversity, improving universal access to clean water, and fighting desertification. Over the past 10 years, the foundation has initiated or supported 370 international projects in locations as diverse as the Mediterranean Basin, the Least Developed Countries (as defined by the United Nations official list) and the Polar Regions.  Read more

Umut Korkut is a reader at Glasgow School for Business and Society at Glasgow Caledonian University. He is also a trustee for the executive committee of the Political Studies Association. His research interests include Eastern European and Turkish politics, migration, and religion, gender and politics. He is currently writing a monograph, "Politics and Gender Identity in Turkey: Centralised Islam for Socio-Economic Control" for Routledge. In this lecture, Korkut will explore the development and consolidation of illiberal politics amidst the global crisis of neoliberalism and democracy since 2008. He will concentrate on Hungary but will also discuss Poland, Slovakia, France, Turkey, and the United States, tracing anti-modern, Christian, and anti-humanitarian tendencies of illiberal democracy in the region.  Read more

Lt. Col. John F. "Joe" Guilmartin Jr., U.S. Air Force (Ret.), was a prominent member of the History Department at The Ohio State University for nearly three decades. He served two tours in the Vietnam War, logging more than 120 missions over Laos and North Vietnam in 1965-66 as a HH-3E "Jolly Green" helicopter pilot. Guilmartin, simply "Dr. G" to his students, was an authority on military and maritime history, airpower history, military technology, and the Vietnam War. At Ohio State he supervised 26 graduate students to completion of their Ph.D. degrees. He also sat on more than 270 student examination committees, the most of any other faculty member on record. On Friday the conference will include presentations from Guilmartin's fellow scholars and colleagues. The Saturday event is his celebratory Festschrift and will feature papers by his former doctoral students. Read more at go.osu.edu/guilmartin

In March the Middle East Studies Center sponsored a symposium on Jihadi groups with Amr Al-Azm, associate professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State University; Alam Payind, director of the Middle East Studies Center; and Richard Herrmann, interim director of the Mershon Center. The symposium ( video here) addressed complex issues related to extremist jihadi groups in the Middle East, as panelists introduced the topic, provided background information on these groups and the area they operate in, and discussed the implications for U.S. foreign policy. In this event, Alam Payind will provide an update on the situation based on his recent fieldwork in Afghanistan.  Read more and register