Sept. 4 will be a day of new beginnings for the Hall Center for the Humanities.

That day, the center will kick off its 48th Humanities Lecture Series at Kansas University and have its ceremonial groundbreaking for its new $5 million building near Sunnyside Avenue and Sunflower Road.

“It’ll be a busy start to the fall semester,” said Victor Bailey, the center’s director.

On Monday, the Hall Center announced speakers for its 2003-2004 lecture series. Drawing 2,500 to 5,000 audience members annually, the series is one of the most popular on campus.

“We tend to take advice from faculty and friends as to who they’d like to hear,” Bailey said. “There’s a certain amount of name recognition — maybe people have read a book by the speaker and they’re curious about them.”

Five speakers are lined up for the 2003-2004 series:

• Peter Gay, historian and author, will lecture on “Modernism in Exile.” Gay is author of the 1998 book, “My German Question: Growing Up in Nazi Berlin,” in which he drew from his own experiences as an exile from Nazi Germany. He will speak at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 4 in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
• Bailey, who also is a KU history professor, will speak on “Winston Churchill: The Greatest Adventurer of Modern Political History.” Bailey’s speech, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 in the auditorium of the Spencer Museum of Art, will discuss how Churchill was transformed from a fanatical, alcoholic imperialist to one of the most trusted figures of his time.
• Sherman Alexie Jr., author and producer of the movie, “Smoke Signals,” will present a lecture on “Killing Indians: Myths, Lies and Exaggerations.” Alexie, who speaks at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Lied Center, draws from his own life experiences to break down American Indian stereotypes such as brave warriors, mystical shamans and poverty victims.
• Linda Stone-Ferrier, KU professor of art history, will speak on “The Rembrandt Research Project: Issues and Controversies” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 in the auditorium at Spencer Museum of Art. Ferrier will address a long-standing project funded by the Dutch government to determine which paintings were by Rembrandt.
• E.O. Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and biologist, will wrap up the series at 7 p.m. April 15 in the Lied Center. He will speak on “The Future of Life,” which combines the disciplines of biology, ecology and sociology to form a conservationist philosophy.

“I think we’ve got a mixture of older, very well-established, renowned speakers and younger speakers who are more provocative,” Bailey said. “It’s the sheer variety and breadth and range of the series that’s interesting to us.”