This month, the School of Arts and Humanities will present a slate of experts and guest speakers offering insight on topics ranging from viruses that can improve your health to the art of translating ancient Chinese texts.

At 7:30 p.m. today in Jonsson Performance Hall, the Confucius Institute will present a free talk with Dr. Haun Saussy, University Professor of comparative literature at the University of Chicago and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Saussy will discuss the Zhuangzi, a text critical to Chinese philosophy, and its role in the translation of foreign cultural texts in China.

“Professor Saussy is an erudite scholar with expertise in a wide range of areas, including history of ideas, cultural theory, world literature, linguistics, musicology, psychology and contemporary art,” said Dr. Ming Dong Gu, director of the Confucius Institute. “We are greatly honored to have him at UT Dallas to give a public lecture on the role of Taoist classics in the cultural exchanges between the East and West.” See event details.

Nazi Anti-Semitism Lecture

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Dr. David Patterson, the Hillel A. Feinberg Chair of Holocaust Studies, will present "Defining the Fundamentals of Nazi Anti-Semitism" for the Ackerman Center's Sunday Lecture Series.

A recipient of the National Jewish Book Award, Patterson has published more than 30 books in philosophy, literature, Judaism and the Holocaust.

“My lecture on Nazi anti-Semitism will explain what is unique and unprecedented about the National Socialist project of the extermination of the Jews,” Patterson said. “It will focus on the role of the Nazi intelligentsia, the defining features of the Nazis' anti-Semitic ideology, and ultimately the Nazi war against the God of Abraham through the annihilation of the children of Abraham. The lecture will conclude with a comment on the historical singularity of the Holocaust.” See event details.

Benefits of Viruses Talk, Writers Presentation

The Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology will welcome guest speaker Dr. Joan Slonczewski, a biology professor at Kenyon College, later this month to discuss “good viruses” and how they might enhance our health.

Her talk at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23, will explain how viruses in the blood and gut offer health benefits that scientists are just beginning to understand. She’ll touch on the immense potential that the human genome has to understand human disease and DNA. See event details.

At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, English professors Andrew Hudgins and Erin McGraw of Ohio State University will read selections from their poetry and short stories.

Hudgins is best known for his collections of poetry and essays, such as “The Never-Ending: New Poems” and “After the Lost War: A Narrative.” McGraw’s short story work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Southern Review and STORY. See event details.

“Our mission as a university transcends classroom instruction and research,” said Dr. Dennis M. Kratz, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and the Ignacy and Celina Rockover Professor of Humanities. “We want our students and the community to encounter thoughtful lectures by leading scholars — not only, like professors Haun Saussy and Joan Slonczewski, from other universities, but also our own professor David Patterson.

"Here’s a suggestion: Attend a lecture about a subject as far from your usual interests as possible. It just might open a new sphere of study.”