Welcome to ESU Happy Hour! The ESU has planned a series of programs to connect and reach out to our members through programs that are engaging, fun, and informative on a wide variety of topics. Happy Hour programs bring to you guest speakers live and free of charge.  Speakers may also suggest a unique cocktail for you to create and enjoy at home. These programs are designed so ESU members and guests can learn and interact with our outstanding speakers. Many speakers will provide exciting participation opportunities with fun give away books and products at the end of each program.

We invite members to suggest topics for future ESU Happy Hour Programs at this link. Cheers!

The 1990s found agrarian societies in Pakistan undergoing profound transitions, not unlike the American South in the first part of the twentieth century. William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” captures the stark confrontation between waning Southern aristocracy (the Compson family) and the ascendant middle class represented by the Snopes family.

Dr. Saima Sherazi will take us through the experience of coping with societal change, especially when that change occurs in a setting with entrenched social hierarchies and gender roles. That setting could be rural Pakistan, or the American South of the 1920s. In either place there is upheaval – urbanization and industrialization collide with traditional dynamics of gender and class.  Dr. Sherazi will share her experience of teaching Faulkner in an all-girls college in a still conservative Pakistan – far removed from the American South, but nonetheless undergoing similar social upheavals. This ESU Happy Hour is sponsored by the ESU Central PA Branch. ESU Happy Hour programs are online, free, and open to all members and the public. Registration is required.

Sixteenth century European historians will find this ESU Happy Hour fascinating and one of tremendous significance. The Great Siege of Malta, a four-month battle from May 18 to September 11, 1565, is considered one of the most ferocious conflicts in military history. Rarely have the odds been so unequal and the stakes so high.

In 1565 Malta was the key to Europe. And during the summer of that year, the future of Western Civilization was decided. The Ottoman Empire had extended its control over most of the Mediterranean. If the tiny island of Malta could be captured, it could become the staging ground for the invasion of critical ports in Europe.

It was an epic struggle, a remarkable tale of resolve and leadership, of disunity in command, and disunity among allies. Historically, the Great Siege of Malta was one of the bloodiest and most fiercely contested battles of the sixteenth century.

Dr. Wayne Bowen, Professor of History and Associate Dean for the College of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Central Florida, draws us into this four-month siege on the island of Malta. This ESU Happy Hour is sponsored by the ESU Central Florida Branch. ESU Happy Hour programs are online, free, and open to all members and the public. Registration is required.