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Ten Years Later: A Campus Reflects

This week: 9/11 anniversary events include symposiums, exhibits and performances

The Duke University community will recognize the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with several campus events that explore the issues and emotions behind one of the most profound days in American history. 

Some events draw on faculty expertise to analyze terrorism and national security issues, or the impact of 9/11 on Muslim Americans, global relations and religion. Other events focus on the grief and sadness surrounding the tragedy through photographs, music and film. 

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One featured event is "Ten Years Later: Reflecting on 9/11," a collaborative conference sponsored by Duke's American Grand Strategy Program, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Global Center.

Juan Zarate, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Combatting Terrorism from 2005-09, will deliver the Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture, "9/11: After a Decade and After Bin Laden" at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, in Fleishman Commons at the Sanford School of Public Policy.  

Another highlight from the "Ten Years Later" conference involves a symposium with Duke faculty, "Did 9/11 Change Everything? Anything?" The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will take place 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, in the Von Canon rooms in the Bryan Center. For more information, visit the Triangle Institute for Security Studies website.

The university will honor the anniversary of 9/11 with an invitation to the local community to come together for a 9/11 commemoration concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at Duke Chapel. Rodney Wynkoop will conduct the Duke Chapel Choir, the Duke Chorale, the Choral Society of Durham, and the Orchestra Pro Cantores in a performance of Mozart's Requiem. Hundreds of Mozart Requiem performances were given nationwide in the aftermath of 9/11, and this music has become symbolic of mourning and consolation.

At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7, an interfaith panel of representatives from Duke's various faith communities will discuss the religious response to 9/11 in Westbrook 0016 at the Duke Divinity School. Speakers include Abdullah Antepli, Duke's Muslim chaplain; Richard Hays, dean of the Duke Divinity School; Sumi Kim, Duke's Buddhist chaplain; Laura Lieber of Duke's Jewish Studies Center; and Sam Wells, dean of the Duke Chapel.

At noon Sept. 8, Bruce Kuniholm, the dean of the Sanford School, will participate in the Office of News & Communication's "Office Hours" with his son Jonathan, a Duke graduate student and retired Marine Corps captain. Both men are veterans and will speak on 9/11's impact on veterans. The hour-long program will be aired live on Duke's Ustream channel

On Thursday, Sept. 15, discussion of the global and religious effects of 9/11 will continue as religion news writers from organizations such as Al Jazeera, Religion News Service and CNN and faculty from Duke and UNC. The one-day conference, "Muslims in America: The Next Ten Years" will include a series of workshops and roundtable discussions on topics such as Islamic studies, radicalization, and the Muslim vote. The conference is not open to the public. 

The keynote speaker at the conference, Eboo Patel, is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, an international nonprofit that helps build bridges between religions. For more information, visit the Religion Newswriters website.

The public is invited to view several art exhibitions highlighting issues related to the memory of the fallen and the struggle of those who survived the attacks. 

"The Life of Memorials" is currently on display in the Perkins Library gallery through Oct. 16. It explores the development and process of creating memorials -- large and small, public and private -- in the U.S. and abroad, and includes sketches of the memorial plans submitted for Ground Zero. 

Also on display through Oct. 16 is "Flesh and Metal, Bodies and Buildings" by photographer Jonathan Hyman and curated by art history professor Pedro Lasch. The photos illustrate the various ways Americans used signs and symbols to publicly grieve in the weeks and months following 9/11. Hyman will discuss his work at a reception at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at the Special Collections Gallery in Perkins Library. (see story)

An opening for the photo exhibition "Esse Quam Videri: Muslim-American Self-Portraits," by photographer Todd Drake, will take place at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at Sanford's Rubenstein Hall.

On Tuesday, Sept. 20, filmmaker Laura Poitras will give a talk on the exhibition "O' Say Can You See" at 7 p.m. at the Center for Documentary Studies. The exhibition, on display through Oct. 22, features a projection of the imagery from Ground Zero in the hours and days following the collapse of the Twin Towers coupled with audio from a Yankees baseball game. 

In November, photographer Benjamin Lowy, winner of the Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in photography, will give a talk on his exhibition, "Iraq | Perspectives," on display Oct. 24-Dec. 11. It features photos taken through Humvee windows and night-vision goggles, capturing the desolation of war-ravaged Iraq. Lowy's talk will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10 in the library's Rare Book Room.

The documentary film "Rebirth" will be screened at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Nasher Museum of Art Lecture Hall. It chronicles the lives of five people directly affected by the 9/11 attacks. Using time-lapse technology, the film also tracks the evolution of the World Trade Center buildings and the post-9/11 rebuilding of the site. For more information, visit the Project Rebirth website.

In addition, two musical events will pay tribute to the 9/11 survivors and victims' families. Visiting fellow Karen Walwyn, a composer/pianist and assistant music professor at Howard University, will perform a seven-movement work, "Reflections on 9/11," at 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10, in the Nelson Music Room. 

Dean Sam Wells of Duke Chapel will dedicate the 11 a.m. Sept. 11 university worship service to the memory of the victims.  That afternoon, the Chapel will host a "10th Anniversary Memorial Concert - Mozart Requiem" at 4 p.m. Visit the Duke Chapel website for more information.