Dr. Steven Ostovich will give a talk entitled “Self-Deception, Shame, and Historical Responsibility: Ordinary Germans and the Third Reich" at 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 11, in room 4119 of Tower Hall on The College of St. Scholastica campus. The public is welcome to this free event; refreshments will be served.

Ostovich is a professor of philosophy at St. Scholastica. In his talk, he will use interviews with German citizens of the Third Reich as the context for raising questions about historical responsibility.

His talk is based on a chapter in a book entitled “The German Sisyphus,” which Ostovich is writing with colleagues from the German Studies Association. The book will be completed this summer.

Ostovich received his Ph.D. in philosophical theology, his master’s degree in biblical studies, and his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.

The talk is part of a new faculty colloquium series developed by the College’s School of Arts and Letters to highlight diverse faculty research projects.

“We want not only to present a diversity of faculty research, but also to create an academic dialogue between faculty members as well as with the community,” said organizer Nathan Carroll, assistant professor of Communication, Theatre and Art.

This is the last in the 2007-08 colloquium series. The presentation will last one hour and include a 40-minute lecture followed by 20 minutes of questions and answers.

For more information contact Carroll at (218) 723-6144 or ncarroll@css.edu.