NIU’s University Honors Program is sponsoring a new lecture series for all NIU students this fall. The theme is “Gods, Heroes, and Mortals: The Pursuit of Excellence and Honor.”

Program Coordinator Joseph Gastiger said by providing this kind of program teachers will have the opportunity to talk about what they know and are not able to discuss during class time.

Dimitri Liakos, chairman of the art history division, will conduct the three-part series this fall.

Liakos said the first lecture which is titled, “The Age of Gods and Heroes: The Homeric Legacy,” on Oct. 6, will try to share with students how individual men gained the title “hero.” The importance of the second lecture, “The Discovery of Man and Mind: The Classical Legacy,” on Oct. 20, is how democracy was invented by the Greeks. The final lecture of the series, “The Mind and Spirit of Ancient Athens: The Classical Moment and the Athenian Legacy,” on Nov. 3, will explain how man can accomplish things with desire and motivation.