The WTAMU Distinguished Lecture Series will host award-winning author Roy Scranton at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17 via Zoom.

Scranton will present his work over global warming in a presentation titled “Learning to Die,” based on his New York Times essay “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene,” which was selected for the 2015 Best American Science and Nature Writing.

Scranton is an English professor and director of the Environmental Humanities Initiative at the University of Notre Dame. He has written a diverse array of books, ranging from experimental fiction to literary criticism, including “Total Mobilization: World War II and American Literature,” “Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization,” “War Porn,” and “We’re Doomed. Now What?” In his works and teachings, Scranton asks us to face our mortality, not just individually but as a culture.

“Drawing on diverse literary and philosophical sources, he argues that the task of our culture is learning to die,” said Dr. Matthew Harrison, the Marsh Professor of Shakespeare Studies at WT.

An Oregon native, Scranton traveled the American West after some college, then enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002, serving for 4 years, with a 14-month tour in Iraq. Earning the rank of sergeant, Scranton then pursued his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New School for Social Research, thereafter, earning a Ph.D. in English at Princeton. Post doctorate, Scranton conducted research at the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences at Rice University. Awards Scranton has earned include the Mrs. Giles G. Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities (2014-15) and Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction (2017).

Harrison said he believes it’s important that WT “students, faculty, and community members get the chance to hear from a wide range of first-class thinkers, including views that they themselves don't hold.”

Participants must register in advance for this free presentation session using this link: https://wtamu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvf-upqTIjHNdQDO7HxNCkafJaWPwRoy12.

After registering, participants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting on Zoom.

-West Texas A&M University