Coastal Carolina University will host its fourth Celebration of Inquiry, two full days and evenings of lectures, presentations, displays, music and theater, on Feb. 16 to 18. Events, all on the Coastal campus, are free and open to the public.

The university-wide academic conference is designed to unite learning communities in cross-disciplinary discussion of the common theme, “Memory, Place, Identity: Behind Us, Before Us, Within Us.” The topic challenges participants to construct and tell their stories, identify and reflect on where they’ve been and examine an evolving sense of who we all are and what defines us, individually, collectively, culturally, regionally, nationally and globally. “The Guts of a Tough Decision: Moral Courage and How to Get It” is the keynote address by ethicist Rushworth Kidder, founder and president of the Institute for Global Ethics, a think tank headquartered in Camden, Maine. Kidder is also author of several books including, most recently, “Moral Courage: Taking Action When Your Values Are Put to the Test” (William Morrow, 2005).

Kidder’s address is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium. He will also participate in a roundtable discussion moderated by Charles Bierbauer on Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium about “The Public Square: A Dialogue on Ethical Decision-Making.” He was a news reporter and bureau chief in the U.S. and abroad for many years. He has worked as a newscaster for CNN and ABC.

Bierbauer, dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina, will also participate in a “Mock Press Conference” on Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. in Wall Building 309.

William W. Falk, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, will also be a featured speaker on Friday, Feb. 18 at 12:30 p.m. about “Memory, Place, Identity: Big Lessons from Small Places.” He has written several books including an oral history, “Rooted in Place: Family and Belonging in a Southern Black Community” (Rutgers University Press, 2004).

Natalie Daise will talk about “Learning Through Story” on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium, and Ron Daise, vice president for creative education at Brookgreen Gardens, will discuss “Make a Difference: Lessons from Africa To You” on the same day at 1 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. The couple’s storytelling was featured in the 1990’s Nickelodeon TV series “Gullah Gullah Island,” which was adapted for a live stage show that toured to sold-out audiences throughout the United States in 1998.

Also scheduled to speak during the conference is Brad Land, local author of “Goat: A Memoir,” a national bestseller that deals with his relationship with his brother and two unrelated episodes of violence he endured, including a hazing incident at Clemson University. He will speak at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17 in Wall Auditorium.

This conference is funded in part by Coastal’s Jackson Family Center for Ethics and Values and the S.C. Humanities Council’s We the People grant initiative, a program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For a complete schedule of the Celebration of Inquiry, visit http://www.coastal.edu/inquiry/2005 or contact Charmaine Tomczyk, conference director, at 843-349-2403. .