Spring
nation’s history thanks to the collection of TR’s writings and archival materials that will take up special residence in a revamped Lorber Hall. Other special presentations have ranged from an appreciation of the words and music of Irving Berlin to the study of two pivotal battles of the Civil War, and a close-up look at the monumental movie “Ben-Hur” in time for the 60th anniversary of its Hollywood premiere. Hutton House was the brain child of Frances Bush-Brown, wife of then-chancellor Albert Bush-Brown, who had envisioned a program that would offer cultural courses weighted toward history, art history, literature, philosophy, music and current affairs. With the encouragement of her husband, the idea bore fruit in 1975 when Bush-Brown enlisted her friend, Claire Fairman, a Radcliffe graduate with a major in art history and professional experience in public relations, to become the first director of the Hutton House Lectures. “The prospective audience would be the intellectually curious, open-minded women and men of the North Shore and beyond,” wrote Robert Parker, former chairman of the Hutton House Lectures Advisory Board in “Where Town Meets Gown,” his brief history of the series timed to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The series took its name from the Georgian-style mansion on the Post campus originally designed in 1927 by noted Washington, D.C., architect John Russell Pope, who had also designed the Jefferson Memorial. From 1946 until 1965, when the University acquired the property, the building had been owned and occupied by W.E. Hutton II, the cousin of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s second husband, E.F. Hutton. The building is now known as Lorber Hall.
also highlight the University’s “faculty stars,” as Parker put it. Lending their expertise early on, Chancellor Bush-Brown, a professional architect, lectured on that subject, while Post President Edward J. Cook taught a course on economics. Editors from Newsday came to deliver lectures on current events. Later Thomas Hoving, then director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shared his knowledge of Egyptian archaeology. Anthropologists Margaret Mead, Richard Leaky and Jane Goodall also spoke to packed houses. The first full year saw 215 adults participate in the program. Since then, that number has grown more than ten-fold. Today, the LIU School of Professional Studies, under the leadership of Dean Rita Langdon and Associate Dean Lynne Manouvrier, is expanding the Hutton House programming to create a nationally recognized initiative that will have on-campus as well as off-site offerings throughout our region and the world. “We share the community’s love for Hutton House,” said Dean Langdon. •
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Ever-popular former New York congressman, the Honorable Steve Israel, is presenting a three-part series this spring as part of the award-winning Hutton House Lectures.
For more information about the School of Professional Studies, please visit LIU.EDU/POST/ACADEMICS/SCHOOL-OF-PROFESSIONAL-STUDIES
Entrance to Lorber Hall
From the its inception, Bush-Brown and Claire Fairman decided that they would focus more on cultural and liberal arts rather than just on vocational or how-to courses. The lectures would
LIUMAGAZINE | Spring 2019
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