Sacramento State’s Renaissance Society, a campus learning organization for senior citizens, will hold a series of forums that cover a large array of topics.

The forums will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays in various campus locations and will be followed by a question and answer sessions.

The Renaissance Society was created to be a place for retirees to gather and study among their peers. The goal of the society is to provide opportunities for continued learning and to foster creative expression for members.

The forums invite speakers to share their knowledge and viewpoints with members.

Arthur Scotland, presiding justice of the state Court of Appeals in Sacramento, will present a lecture entitled “The Rule of Law” on Friday where he will discuss the rule of law and the judge’s role in the courtroom.

Scotland is a Sacramento native and has held many positions within the justice system, including deputy district attorney, California deputy attorney general, cabinet secretary to the governor and Superior Court judge.

Scotland spoke to the Sac State community last fall in a seminar regarding civil liberties and the Bill of Rights.

Shawn Harrison, who is executive director of the non-profit organization Soil Born Farms, will speak on agricultural issues on March 7. Harrison, along with his partner Marco Franciosa, created the organization in an attempt to make urban farming more of a reality to the Sacramento area.

Harrison and Franciosa spread knowledge of urban agriculture so that people can reconnect to food. This includes teaching the public how it is grown, where it comes from, what it does to the body and how it affects health and state of mind.

Stan Statham, president and CEO of the California Broadcasters Association, will present “The End of Analog TV” on March 21. Because analog television will be replaced on Feb. 19, 2009, by digital broadcasting, Statham will discuss its effects on television.

Statham previously served as a state legislator of California for 20 years before turning to broadcast. Prior to his position with CBA, Statham was an anchorman and TV news director in Northern California.

On March 28, Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, who represents the 9th District in the California State Assembly, will discuss legislative issues and their effects on the average California citizen in his lecture “The Big Legislative Issues.”

Jones was recently honored as the “Legislator of the Year” by the Consumer Attorneys of California and California Bar Association.

In addition to serving as state assemblyman, Jones chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee and is a committee member of the Budget, Health, Agriculture and Utilities and Commerce Committees.

Tom Philp, executive strategist of the Metropolitan Water District, will present “Delta Water Challenges, Unplugged.”

Philp, who is a former associate editor of the Sacramento Bee, is well known for tackling Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchey Valley. He wrote a series of articles about the valley urging for its restoration.

Hetch Hetchey was flooded in 1913 when legislation was passed to dam the Tuolumne River and flood the valley. It has since been used as a water and electricity source for the San Francisco Bay area. Philp won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for editorial writing on the restoration series of the Hetch Hetchey valley.

Rounding up the series of speakers is Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, who represents California’s 5th Assembly District. Niello, a Northern California native, has been in office since 2004 and will be on campus April 18.

Niello currently serves on the Budget, Elections and Redistricting committees. He previously served as president of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Capital Area Political Action Committee.

This spring semester series of speakers was kicked off by Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters who was on campus Feb. 15 with a lecture called “Primary Colors” in which he analyzed the Feb. 5 primary election and the positions of the candidates. Walters also discussed some of the propositions that were voted on and their implications.

Friday’s forum, held in Mendocino Hall room 1003, featured speaker Bahman Fozouni, coordinator of the International Affairs Graduate Program at Sac State, and his lecture “All About Iran.”

A native of Iran, Fozouni earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Tulane University and has a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Fozouni returned to Iran after completing his studies where he served as director of research for a national survey project studying the socio-psychological effects of rapid change of Iranian population.

Fozouni has been at Sac State since the fall of 1990 and is currently professor and chair of the government department, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses about international politics, the Middle East, nationalism and research methods.

For more information on the series of events, contact the Renaissance Society at (916) 278-7834 or visit the Renaissance Society website at www.csus.edu/org/rensoc/interior/forums.htm.

Isela Reyes can be reached at [email protected].