The DeKalb History Center hosts this month’s “Lunch & Learn” next Tuesday, May 17th at noon, in downtown Decatur at the Old Courthouse.   This month’s lecture explores Emory University’s history.  Here’s the Center’s press release…

DECATUR – The DeKalb History Center’s Lunch and Learn Lecture Series continues in May with a presentation by Gary Hauk of Emory University.

Emory University observes its 175th anniversary in 2011, and more than half of the university’s life has been lived in DeKalb County. Born in Newton County during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, Emory came to DeKalb in the twentieth century courtesy of Vanderbilt University’s truculence and Asa Candler’s munificence. Through lean times and fat, the university’s history offers tales of saints and scoundrels, vision and misdirection, perseverance and imagination. From the launching of a humble school in rural Georgia to the building of one of the nation’s great urban research universities — a Georgian university that does not play intercollegiate football! — the story unfolds with the help of archival photographs and a lively narrative.

Gary Hauk is vice president and deputy to the president of Emory University, where he has served in senior administrative positions for more than twenty years. As the unofficial historian of Emory, he is the author of A Legacy of Heart and Mind: Emory Since 1836 and co-editor of a recent collection of essays about Emory’s history, Where Courageous Inquiry Leads. He regularly lectures and teaches a course on the history of Emory. Hauk earned his Ph.D. in ethics from Emory, B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Lehigh University, and a master of divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

The lecture is Tuesday, May 17 at 12:00 noon at the Old Courthouse on the Square and is free of charge. Guests are encouraged to bring a lunch to eat during the program.

Photo courtesy of Emory History website