April 1, 10:20 a.m.; MSU Union, Parlors B & C

The nation’s last U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Joseph A. Califano, has served three presidents: Kennedy, Johnson and Carter. He has served as general counsel to the U.S. Army and as special assistant to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. As Special Assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Califano was a top domestic aide, developing policies on health care, education, environment and urban issues, and civil rights.

For more information, contact Cynthia Kyle, Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, at kylec@msu.edu.

NASA Astronaut John Herrington

April 3, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.; 115 International Center

NASA astronaut and aeronautical engineer John Herrington will be conducting a free public lecture at the International Center as part of the events hosted by the MSU chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

For more information, contact Autumn Mitchell, College of Natural Science, at mitch489@msu.edu.

“The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” (film)

April 9, 7 p.m.; Library, Main-North Conference Room (W449)

Presented by Joe Francese, Department of French, Classics, and Italian. In Ferrara, Italy, at the beginning of WWII, anti-Semitism is spreading. Mussolini has passed several laws that forbid Jews from going to public schools, joining the army, or marrying non-Jews. While many middle-class Jewish families flee the country, the Finzi-Continis believe it’s safe inside their sprawling estate. As a wealthy, aristocratic Jewish family, they think their luxurious garden walls will protect them from fascism. Eventually they can pretend no longer, and the war closes in on them.

For more information, contact Library Administration at (517) 353-8700.

“Poetry in the Spring” series: Elspeth Cameron

April 14, 7:30 p.m.; Snyder Hall, RCAH Theatre, CB20

The Center for Poetry welcomes Elspeth Cameron, one of Canada’s most respected and well-known biographers. Cameron has published books on Irving Layton, Earle Birney, and Hugh Maclennan. Her most recent book, And Beauty Answers, details the lives and work of sculptors Frances Loring and Florence Wyle. Cameron is the recipient of many awards and honors and was a Governor General’s Award Non-Fiction finalist. She has served as the director of the Canadian Studies Program at the University of Toronto and was an adjunct professor in the Department of language and Literature at Brock University.

For more information, contact RCAH Center for Poetry at cpoetry@msu.edu.

Concert Orchestra

April 30, 7:30 p.m.; Fairchild Theatre, Auditorium Rd., MSU Campus

Tchaikovsky – Mazurka from Swan Lake

Borodin – Symphony No. 2, Movement I

Grieg – Suite from the Incidental Music to Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt

Wagner – Grand March from Tannhauser