CCU's Celebration of Inquiry is March 30 and 31
The Celebration of Inquiry is a two-day conference on CCU’s campus offering more than 100 presentations and panel discussions on a variety of topics designed and hosted by CCU faculty and students as well as visiting faculty and community professionals. This year’s theme correlates with CCU’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which promotes experiential learning—applying theory to practice and learning through experience. Topics include “Masks, Roles and Words: Stereotypes, Violence Against Women, and the Language of the Gender,” “Peace Through Music,” “What Does Astronomy Tell Us About the 2012 Doomsday Prophecies” and “Dynamics in Knowing and Doing from the Small Business World.”
The keynote speaker will be Bonnie St. John, an author and paralympian who was the first African American female to earn medals in the Winter Paralympics for ski-racing. St. John will focus on topics from her new book, “How Great Women Lead,” as well as from her earlier books, including “Live Your Joy.” She will speak at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 30, in Kimbel Arena. Copies of her book will be available for purchase and autographs after her presentation. Her lecture has been made part of the Kimbel Distinguished Lecture Series, and is sponsored by the CCU Women in Philanthropy and Leadership through a grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation.
Preceding the conference are two additional presentations. First, there will be a poetry reading from prize-winning poets Natasha Trethewey and Jake Adam York on Thursday, March 29, at 4 p.m. in the Recital Hall located in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Both poets will also join Dan Albergotti, professor of English at CCU, for a panel discussion the following day. Next, there is the HTC Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Lecture, an annual event featuring a top CCU faculty member, will be given by Maria Bachman.
Her presentation, titled “We Read, Therefore We Are: Novel Reading in the Age of Neuroscience,” discusses the effect that cognitive function has on literary study. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday in the Wall Auditorium located in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. Other events include the CCU Faculty Scholars Symposium from 2 to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 30, in Wall 308; the Mini-Symposium on Professionalism from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, in Wall 317; and the fourth annual Undergraduate Research Competition presentations, held throughout Friday and Saturday in Wall 304, 318 and 322.
All Celebration of Inquiry events are free, although St. John’s keynote address will require a ticket, which can be picked up at the Wheelwright Box Office Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For the complete conference schedule, visit www.coastal.edu/inquiry and click the link for the 2012 program: http://www.coastal.edu/inquiry/2012