Coastal Carolina University professor Preston McKever-Floyd will give a talk titled "Gazing on the Face of the 'Other': The Ethics of Compassion in the Global Village" on Tuesday, March 3 at 4:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. The program will repeat off campus on Tuesday, March 10 at 6 p.m. in the fellowship hall of Myrtle Beach Presbyterian Church at 3810 Grissom Parkway at the corner of 38th Avenue North and Bob Grissom Parkway.

The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture is the final in the University's "Tea and Ethics" series for this academic year. These public forums on ethical issues are presented by the University's Jackson Family Center for Ethics and Values. McKever-Floyd, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, will talk about the modern climate of conflict that arises as a result of the "Us" versus "Them" model of engagement.

"Each day the media present a smorgasbord of headlines in which the 'other' is represented as our enemy," says McKever-Floyd. "Our world is littered with the results of this seemingly endless cycle of conflicts -- political, ideological, ethnic and religious. The Us-Them model seems oblivious to the ever increasing interconnectedness of global socio-economic, ecological and political systems." The professor believes that in order to transform global engagement in the 21st century, we must rethink the concept of "otherness."

McKever-Floyd earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Virginia State University and a Master's of Divinity degree from Duke University. He has been a faculty member of Coastal Carolina University since 1980.

For more information, call Amanda Price in the Jackson Center at 843-349-4149.