The Dole Institute of Politics will honor Women Air Service Pilots who flew during World War II as part of its upcoming fall programming.

Bill Lacy, director of the institute, said that, in deciding to award its 2010 Leadership Prize to the WASPs, the institute was honoring a group that, over the years, has never fully gotten the recognition it deserved.

“This is an opportunity to take one of our signature programs and signature events and focus it on the greatest generation,” he said.

He estimated there were about 300 living WASPs today, three of whom will be interviewed along with Katherine Landdeck, associate professor of history specializing in WASPs at Texas Woman’s University, at the prize-awarding event.

The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 3 at the New Century AirCenter near Olathe.

Also this fall, the institute will host a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist David Broder.

Upcoming events this fall at the Dole Institute include:

• Neutral Ground: Congress Should Enact Cap and Trade Legislation — 7:30 p.m. Aug. 31.

Professional advocates will present both sides of the topic in a courtroom-style format, by making their cases using expert witnesses.

• Fort Leavenworth’s Academic Contribution to Allied Victory in Europe in World War II — 3 p.m. Sept. 8.

Peter Schifferle, faculty member at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College, discusses how peacetime officer education programs helped contribute to the Allied success.

• Civility in a Fractured Society — 7:30 p.m. Sept. 13.

Jim Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will speak on the importance of politeness in the public arena. Lacy said Leach, a former Republican congressman who was appointed to his current job by President Barack Obama, will point out deficiencies on both sides of the aisle.

• Diversity in the Kansas Judiciary — 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30.

A conversation with federal judge Deanell Tacha on the importance of a diverse judiciary in America’s court systems.

• The Muncy Journalism and Politics Lecture with David Broder — 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18.

Broder, a Washington Post columnist, will deliver the fifth Muncy lecture, endowed by Martha E. “Betty” Muncy, the retired owner of the Dodge City Daily Globe.