Coastal Carolina University faculty members will lead a series of eight community dialogue events on the theme “Cultural Vitality in Our Community.” The annual series is held each February and March at the Waccamaw Higher Education Center in Litchfield.

Programs in this year’s series are scheduled each Wednesday at 7 p.m.

* Feb. 2: “Moving Toward Reform: Community Awareness and Resources for Young Stroke Survivors.” The Southeast boasts the highest incidence of stroke mortality in the U.S. Half of the strokes that occurred in South Carolina in 2009 affected patients between the ages of 18 and 65. Health communication lecturer Amy Edmunds will discuss ways to reform stroke care policy and preview the regional Young Stroke Expo.

* Feb. 9: “Ashes2Art: Computer Reconstructions of Ancient Monuments in Greece and Egypt.” In 2005, visual arts professors Arne Flaten and Paul Olsen founded the Ashes2Art program, which has since received international recognition for its inventive technology. The professors will show how students and faculty are digitally reconstructing buildings and objects depicting ancient archaeological sites in Egypt.

* Feb. 16: “Online Friendship.” Philosophy professor Dylan Wittkower will examine today’s flourish of Facebook friendships by drawing on ancient philosophers like Aristotle, Hume and Camus.

* Feb. 23: “How Old-Fashioned Radio Helps Us Understand ‘Newfangled’ Gadgets: The Role of Old Media in Teaching About New Media.” Communication assistant professor Wes Fondren will analyze historical patterns that emerged with the launch of the telegraph, radio and television, plus the concerns with newly emerging communication technologies in an open forum format.

* March 2. “Engaging the Virtual Landscape: The Spatial Experience Engine and Historical Landscape Reconstruction.” Susan Bergeron, assistant professor in politics and geography, will introduce geospatial technologies, used increasingly in the fields of history and archaeology, and discuss the serious gaming-based virtual world engine, the Spatial Experience Engine.

* March 9: “Archaeology of Climate Change in Africa: Past, Present and Future.” Carolyn Dillian, assistant professor of archaeology, will investigate the ways the modern Dassanech people of Northern Kenya have adapted to climate changes over the last 8,000 years. She will also present studies of archaeological excavations.

* March 16: “To the Last Syllable of Recorded Time: What Hamlet and Macbeth Know and Can Teach Us About Our Future.” Tripthi Pillai, assistant professor of English, will demonstrate how Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” transcend time and sociopolitical contexts of cultural materialism, gender and globalization.

* March 23: “Literary Ghosts of the Confederacy.” Daniel Cross Turner, assistant professor of English, will address literary and visual representations of the Confederate flag, Southern folklore and the Confederacy overall. The discussion will include works by Civil War diarist Mary Boykin Chestnut, poet and novelist James Dickey and fiction writer Percival Everett.

“Cultural Vitality in Our Community” is free and open to the public. The series is sponsored by the Board of Visitors of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. CCU’s Waccamaw Higher Education Center is located at 160 Willbrook Blvd., Litchfield. For additional information, call 843-349-6584.