For nearly 20 years, Israeli professor Ruth Lorand has studied beauty and its interpretation. Now, she is bringing her theories on aesthetics to Marquette as the 2005-'06 Association of Marquette University Women's chair in humanistic studies.

Lorand, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Haifa in Israel, arrived on campus last week to teach, speak and do research.

"Coming from Israel, I may bring a different voice to the academic dialogue and allow my students (at) Marquette to experience different methods of teaching and different emphases in the field of aesthetics," she said.

The association has brought humanistic studies chairs to Marquette since 1963 as lecturers and expanded the position in 1989 to allow for a semester- or year-long appointment. The chair rotates through several departments in the university, according to Suzanne Abler, assistant provost for division operations.

"The intent of the position is to bring in women of diverse talents and backgrounds to give our students an opportunity for an enrichment experience," Abler said.

The standards for the chair are high.

"The criteria we look for are academics with a distinguished record of publication in their fields and who are also able to vouch for their success in the classroom," said Carla Hay, associate professor of history. "We want good teachers as well as accomplished researchers and scholars."

Hay is a member of the chair search committee.

Lorand will lecture to the public about "The Logic of Interpretation" on Nov. 4. She will also give the Distinguished Eleanor H. Boheim Lecture, entitled "Beauty and Art in Everyday Life," next March in the Weasler Auditorium, said Jeff Wenzler, liaison to the association from university advancement.

Lorand will teach an undergraduate course this fall called Philosophy of Art and Beauty and instruct a graduate seminar on beauty in the spring.

"It's a chance for our graduate students to hear yet another voice that they wouldn't otherwise hear," said James South, chair of the philosophy department.

Lorand said she would bring a focus to her classes that other professors might not.

"I hope to raise interest in the issue of beauty, a topic that is so central in everyday life (that) however has been neglected by the academia in the last century," she said.

She will share her philosophies of beauty, some of which appear in her 2000 book "Aesthetic Order: A Philosophy of Order, Beauty and Art," a work Lorand said is "the highlight of my academic career."

"Beauty expresses order and necessity, but unlike other orders it is unpredictable," Lorand said. "Aesthetic order is a paradoxical notion, an order without laws."

During her stay at Marquette, Lorand said she plans to work on a new book about perfection and to experience American culture firsthand.

"Most of what I know about America is from books and films," she said.

Lorand's husband, Giora Hon, will also lecture in the philosophy department, though South said Hon declined to teach a course. Hon will give a speech on Sept. 9 called "Going Wrong: To Make a Mistake, To Fall into Error."

Next year's AMUW chair in humanistic studies will be Kathleen Galvin, professor of communication studies at Northwestern University, Abler said.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 8, 2005.