Barry Gan, philosophy professor and director of the Center for Nonviolence at St. Bonaventure University, speaks on “Out of the Ashes of Violence: Violent Myths and Nonviolent Realities.” Gan also is co-editor of the Journal Peace & Change. Sponsored by MU Peace Studies Program.

Rihab Sawah, associate professor at Moberly Area Community College, speaks on “Religious Pluralism in Syria.” Chair of MACC’s Global Education Committee, Sawah was country coordinator for a 2007 Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad to Syria, which provided participants with experiential exposure to religious pluralism in Syria. Presentation is accompanied by photos of visits to Syria’s ancient religious sites.  Sponsored by the MU Department of Religious Studies and the Muslim Speakers Bureau of Columbia.

Through Oct. 11. Conference: “Caring for the Difficult Patient,” the annual MU Health Ethics Conference examines clinical circumstances in which health care providers must respond to patients who have special needs or make demands. Sponsored by the MU Center for Health Ethics, School of Medicine, Sinclair School of Nursing, School of Health Professions and MU Healthcare.

Film: “AMA – La Memoria Del Tiempo (The Memory of Time),” with filmmaker Daniel Flores y Ascenscio, a documentary about the family of José Feliciano Ama, the leader of Nahua-Pipil indigenous peasants during El Salvador’s 1932 uprising. Sponsored by the Hispanic and Latin American Faculty and Staff Association, Center on Religion & the Professions, Axiom, Ragtag Cinema, and the MU Multicultural Center. Free.

Lecture: “Current State of Professional Ethics,” by Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino, chair of the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics, professor emeritus of medicine and medical ethics at Georgetown University’s Center for Clinical Bioethics, and adjunct professor of medicine and ethics at the MU School of Medicine Center for Health Ethics.

Brownbag lecture: “Telling Your Story,” by Sarah Hill, Emmy award-winning reporter and KOMU-TV anchor, Missouri School of Journalism adjunct faculty member, and host of “Sarah’s Stories” on KOMU. Sponsored by the MU Christian Scholars Forum.

Lecture: “Herodotus: gods and men – and women too,” by Christopher Pelling, professor of Greek at Oxford University. Part of MU History Department’s Fordyce Mitchel Memorial Lecture Series. Free.

strong> Retreat: “The Non-Dual Dimension of Life,” an insight meditation retreat with Matthew Flickstein. Cost is $55; scholarships available.

Brownbag lecture: “A Look Back, A Look Ahead at the U.S. Supreme Court,” by Carl Esbeck, professor in the MU School of Law. Sponsored by the MU Christian Scholars Forum.