The Viterbo University D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership’s spring lecture series will continue at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, as actor and historian Joe Wiegand presents “An Evening with Teddy Roosevelt” in the Fine Arts Center Main Theatre.
Wiegand is considered the world’s premier Theodore Roosevelt repriser, and his portrayals of Roosevelt in live performance, on television, and in film are amazing. Wiegand has been featured as President Roosevelt in The Men Who Built America on the History Channel, served as the model for the newest Roosevelt sculpture at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and has a feature role in National Parks Adventure, a film about U.S. national parks still showing in IMAX theaters throughout the country. He has also performed at the White House. He has been named a Wilkins Scholar, a Harry S. Truman Scholar, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellow.
The presentation is part of the annual Leopold Day celebration. On Saturday, March 7, events will be held at the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge Visitor Center on Brice Prairie. At 10 a.m. that day, Craig Thompson will examine Teddy Roosevelt’s remarkable conservation achievements against a backdrop of contemporary, growing conservation needs in a presentation titled, “Birder in Chief—Teddy Roosevelt’s Bird Conservation Legacy.” From creation of the original White House bird list to establishment of the first National Wildlife Refuge, Roosevelt’s love for nature, particularly birds, compelled his actions. For the past 30 years, Thompson has held various positions with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, specializing in migratory bird conservation and landscape scale protection efforts.
At 11 a.m. March 7, students of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor Kelly Sultzbach will lead a walk that will include readings from Leopold, Roosevelt, and a few other writers who reflect similar environmental themes. WisCorps will also offer activities and crafts for children related to the Roosevelt theme.
The presentation at Viterbo and the events at the National Wildlife and Fish Refuge are part of the annual Leopold Day celebration and are free and open to the public. For a full schedule of D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership events, visit www.viterbo.edu/ethics.
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