The division of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) hosted their annual Alumni Reception and Livingston Lecture last Monday, May 5, in Davis Auditorium. The Alumni Reception provided an opportunity for students and alumni to mingle and network and included the presentation of the second annual Alumni Achievement Awards. This year’s Livingston Lecture, “The Real Monuments Men and Women: Art Restitution Successes and Challenges,” was presented by Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Karlsgodt.
According to Kristin Kemp, director of community relations and communication for AHSS, the event was free, but attendees were asked to register online. The event reached capacity the week before with 550 RSVPs. It was open to everyone, including current students, staff, faculty, community members, AHSS alumni and other DU alumni.
“We are very happy to provide free programming like this lecture,” said Kemp. “Alumni get to reconnect with each other and their former professors and see what current students are up to.”
The AHSS Alumni Achievement Awards were created by the AHSS Advisory Board last year as a way to honor the professional and personal achievements of alumni, according to Kemp. The four awards include the Service to AHSS Award, the Recent Alumni Achievement Award, the Community Engagement Award and the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. AHSS called for applications in the winter, and alumni applied or nominated others for the awards.
“The winners reflect the diversity of the AHSS departments and the many different types of personal and professional successes awaiting current students who graduate from AHSS,” said Kemp.
This year, the Service to AHSS Award was granted to Edie Miller, who received her B.A. and M.A. in economics from DU. She is a former professor of economics at Metro State and the former commissioner of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission under Governor Dick Lamm.
The Recent Alumni Achievement award was granted to Mahalia Newmark, who received her B.A. in creative writing from DU. She is the former development officer for the American Indian College Fund and the president of the DU Indigenous Affinity Alumni Group.
The AHSS Community Service Award was granted to Hannah Seigel, who received her B.A. in English and gender and women’s studies from DU. She is now a deputy state public defender for the State of Colorado, who specializes in the representation of juveniles and low income populations.
The AHSS Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award was granted to Hao Jiang Tian, who received his M.A. in music from DU. Tian is a Grammy-nominated international opera singer, who has sung more than 1,300 performances of 40 operatic roles worldwide, including 26 operas at the Metropolitan Opera.
After the Alumni Achievement Awards was the Livingston Lecture, named after Professor John C. Livingston. The lecture changes every year, and this year, Karlsgodt presented on art restitution and the men and women who inspired George Clooney’s film, “The Monuments Men.”
“It was a tremendous honor to deliver this lecture in honor of John Livingston,” said Karlsgodt. “I arrived at the history department too late to know Professor Livingston, but I believe our faculty are continuing his mission to educate students with rigorous instruction, while reaching broader public audiences. Colleagues have told me that he also aimed to illustrate the current relevance of history. I think the topic of my lecture, the history and legacy of Nazi art looting, honored his legacy in this regard as well.”
According to Karlsgodt, “The Monuments Men” has helped raise public awareness of the history and legacy of Nazi art looting. In her lecture, she explained why Hitler and other Nazis looted millions of cultural objects and how Allied forces recovered them from make-shift repositories in castles, churches and salt mines.
“The Livingston Lecture gave me an opportunity to tap into growing public interest in the history of Nazi art looting, showing how the past shapes and informs the present,” said Karlsgodt. “Clooney’s film takes significant creative liberties, which is expected in a big-budget Hollywood film, so I aimed to show ways in which the history is actually more complicated and fascinating than the story on the big screen.”
Karlsgodt said she emphasized the importance of viewing Nazi art looting within the broader context of the Holocaust and the seizure of a wide range of Jewish assets.
“For me, personally, as an event attendee, one of the most compelling things was an image of Hitler looking over his model of his planned art museum in Linz, Austria,” said Kemp. “For me, that resonated quite strongly, to think about how different our world would be if that war had been won by the Nazis.”
After the lecture, the DU Center for Judaic Studies hosted an author talk-back with Karlsgodt. The DU Bookstore was also on site selling Karlsgodt’s book, “Defending National Treasures: French Art and Heritage Under Vichy.”
“What’s really great about this lecture series is we get to share the research of our faculty with the DU community,” said Kemp. “It’s an annual program, so the topics vary as much as AHSS is varied.”
Kemp said she has heard rave reviews from people who attended the event. She added that members of the DU community should stay tuned for next year’s AHSS programs, which will include a full lineup of faculty lectures and more.
