David O'Hara, associate professor of philosophy and classics at Augustana University, will deliver the Beck Lecture at Southwestern College on Tuesday, April 3, at 4 p.m. in Wroten Hall. The public is invited to attend and there is no admission charge.  

The title of his lecture is “Mountains Swimming Home: Why Alaskan Salmon and Guatemalan Vines Matter In Kansas.”

O’Hara teaches a variety of courses, including ancient philosophy, American philosophy, environmental ethics, Asian philosophy, and philosophy of religion. He regularly teaches a course on classics in Greece, and a course on tropical rainforest and reef ecology in Belize and Guatemala. 

His most recent book is “Downstream," which is about brook trout and the ecology of the Appalachians. He is also the author of “Narnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C. S. Lewis” and “From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy." Currently, he is preparing an edited volume of the religious writings of the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce. 

O'Hara has earned degrees from Middlebury College, and St John's College, and was awarded master's and doctoral degrees by Pennsylvania State University.

The Beck lectureship, funded by Paul V. Beck to explore topics relating to science and religion, is an annual event on campus and brings in theologians, scientists, and philosophers from across the nation.  

For more information about the Beck Lecture, call (620) 229-6059.