Solertia Humanities Speaker Series

Solertia—one of the elements comprising the virtue of prudence—is the ability by which someone, "when confronted with a sudden event, can swiftly, but with open eyes and clear-sighted vision, decide for the good, avoiding pitfalls of injustice, cowardice, and intemperance" (Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues).

The UCCS Humanities program is proud to offer the Solertia Humanities Speaker Series, which presents an annual talk by an internationally recognized leader in the humanities. In our rapidly changing and often fragmented world, a cultivated appreciation of our collective likeness, shared capacities and common aspirations compels us to understand and savor the rich depth of human diversity and experience. To the ancient Romans, the concept of humanitas included an education that instilled the virtues of character required to live a fulfilling life: wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. Funding for Solertia is provided by a Humanities Program Fee, with additional assistance from the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities.

Faring the Strange Ways

Tuesday, 22 September 2026, 7:00pm
Chapman Foundations Recital Hall
Ent Center for the Arts
5225 N. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80918

Tickets Here

We cannot continue to race forward as though we have future sight of what’s ahead; rather wisdom has always come from looking to the past to direct our steps. Freedom activists, such as Dr. Anna Julia Cooper who was born an American slave and earned a PhD from the Sorbonne, drew their insights for the good life from ancient stories, what we now call “the great books.” Stories such as the Odyssey are not merely entertaining but revelatory for how to navigate the strange ways ahead. In this talk, Dr. Hooten Wilson, Flecher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University, will be looking specifically at Anna Julia Cooper and the influence of Greek and Roman Classics on her activism at the term of the twentieth century.

Jessica Hooten Wilson is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University. She is the author of several books, most recently Flannery O’Connor’s Why Do the Heathen Rage?: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress. Her book Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov received a 2018 Christianity Today book of the year in arts and culture award and The Scandal of Holiness received a 2022 Award of Merit. In 2019 she received the Hiett Prize for Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Other awards include a Fulbright Fellowship to Prague, an NEH to study Dante in Florence, a Biola University sabbatical fellowship funded by the John Templeton Foundation, and the 2017 Emerging Public Intellectual Award. She is a Senior Fellow at The Trinity Forum. She also received a grant from theLilly Endowment Inc. and Wake Forest University for her project with Paul Begin, Cultivating Virtue via Great Books Pathway Through the Core Curriculum.

2026 Speaker: Mia Chung—What Makes Us Human?: AI and the Power of Narrative in Beethoven's Piano Music

2025 Speaker: Kevin J. Anderson—Why Humanities Matter: Dune and Star Wars as a Gateway to Your Purpose

2024 Speaker: Alberto Manguel—Homer Today