Florida State University’s Strozier Library hosted Facets of Genius: A Symposium in the Scholars’ Commons Reading Room on Feb. 12. The event featured faculty from different colleges and discussed the idea of genius, and focused on who might be considered a one.

“This is the future of librarianship, this is the reason that I work here.” said Trip Wycoff, a Business Librarian. “It’s about bringing people an experience that they can’t have on their own.
Professors spoke on a variety of subjects within the humanities and science realms.

• Lynette Thompson, a Distinguished Research Professor of Classics, spoke about the Genius in Ancient Rome.
• Reinier Leushuis, Professor of Modern Language, discussed the The Allegorical Genius as a Figure of Poetic Fertility in French Medieval and Renaissance Literature.
• Christian Weber, Professor of Modern Languages, talked about Controlling the Creative Force Within: Goethe’s Reflections on Genius.
• Darrin McMahon, the Ben Weider Professor of History, lectured on Some Thoughts on the History of Genius.
• Eric Walker, Distinguished Teaching Professor of English, discussed a beloved female author in Genius and Gender:  The Case of Jane Austen.
• Michael Broyles, a professor in the college of music, focused on Mozart in his discussion of Musical Genius:  Enlightenment Views.
• Michael Ruse informed that audience that Darwin just got lucky during his talk Was Charles Darwin a Genius or Just Lucky?
• K. Anders Ericsson, Conradi Eminent Scholar and Professor of Psychology, closed the event with Can We Create Giftedness and Genius? A Perspective from the Framework for Expert Performance and Deliberate Practice.

The event put focus on the importance of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research, which brings together faculty from all areas of study.

“This is one of the big problems that you have on campuses, that they are either in English or religion or physics,” said Michael Ruse, the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor and Director of the Program in History and the Philosophy of Science. “One of the nice things is that we are trying to bring together people from different backgrounds.”

According to Sarah Kachaluba, a humanities librarian, the exchange of ideas between faculty benefits the student body as well.

“I think this is very instructive for students who are learning to do research and scholarships,” said Kachaluba. “And such exchange is fun for graduate students and faculty who are doing such work.”

Seongkwn Cho, a Ph.D. student at FSU echoed her remarks.

“I think that what’s being done at Strozier is a really good opportunity for students,” said Cho.

Cho came to hear K. Anders Ericsson, Cho had him last semester as a professor and felt like it was a good opportunity to listen to him “talk real.” He read some of Ericsson’s articles and thought this was a good chance to see what he really researches.

“This event was very successful in illustrating how faculty do research and scholarship and why intellectual exchange between scholars is important,” said Kachaluba. “It also demonstrated how being exposed to interdisciplinary perspectives can be enlightening.”