The 2013–2014 Presidential Events Series, The Human Experience: An Odyssey, emphasizes the philosophy that Eckerd’s faculty imparts to first-year students, “Think critically about the world around you and your place in this world.”
The first lecture of the series, “The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic,” will be delivered by John Shelby Spong, former bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, NJ, on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Fox Hall. Known as a voice of progressive Christianity for more than four decades, Bishop Spong argues that Jesus never spoke a literal word in the Fourth Gospel and that most of the characters that populate this Gospel’s pages are literary figures, not historical figures.
Additional speakers during the Fall 2013 semester include: Pulitzer Prize winnerKatherine Boo; activist filmmaker Byron Hurt, spoken word artist Natasha “T” Miller, Eckerd faculty and staff William “Bill” Felice, Ph.D., Patrick Henry, Ph.D., and Ronald Porter ’05, Ph.D.; YWCA of Tampa Bay CEO Lenice Emanuel; Southern history expert Raymond Arsenault, Ph.D. (USF St. Petersburg); sociologist Ryan Cragun, Ph.D. (Univ. of Tampa); marine mammal expert Stan Kuczaj, Ph.D. (Univ. of Southern Miss.); local historian Will Michaels, Ph.D.; Alzheimer’s researcher Dave Morgan, Ph.D. (USF Health Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute); and Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar and paleoanthropologist Timothy Bromage, Ph.D. (NYU College of Dentistry).
All events at Eckerd College are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated. For event information, please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications at 727-864-7979 or events@eckerd.edu or visit Eckerd’s public events calendar.
This year’s Presidential Events Series is inspired by Human Experience, a two-course sequence and the cornerstone of the first-year academic program at Eckerd College. This introduction to Eckerd’s General Education curriculum provides students with a foundation in the liberal arts, an opportunity to examine the liberal arts more deeply, and a platform to awaken their scholarly interests. Through speaker presentations, the series will reflect ideas and concepts that inspire minds to move beyond illusive walls and barriers, compel an openness to new ways of looking at the world, and ignite an intellectual journey that transitions to a lifelong quest and adventure.
In addition to Eckerd’s focus on the human experience, the 2013–2014 Presidential Events Series shines a spotlight on The Arts at Eckerd College by featuring the talent and creativity of Eckerd’s campus community as well as artists from around the state of Florida.
Eckerd College is pleased to present the following lectures and presentations as a service to the community. Click on the title of each event for more information:
Talking About Race: Social Justice in a Time of Difference and Indifference
Wednesday, September 25, 7:00 pm, Fox Hall
Panelists:
Raymond Arsenault, Ph.D., the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and Author of the Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice and The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America
Lenice Emanuel, Chief Executive Officer, YWCA of Tampa Bay
Ronald Porter ’05, Ph.D., Acting Director of Service-Learning, Eckerd College
Moderated by Alizza Punzalan-Randle, Director of Community and Media Relations, Eckerd College
Moral Interdependence and Global Citizenship
Tuesday, October 1, 7:30 pm, Fox Hall
William “Bill” F. Felice, Ph.D., Associate Dean of General Education and Professor of Political Science, Eckerd College
When the Spirit Moves Me: A College Student’s Perspective on Spirituality and Religiosity
Thursday, October 3, 6:00 pm, Miller Auditorium
Patrick Henry, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Eckerd College
Ryan Cragun, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Tampa
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes
Wednesday, October 9, 7:30 pm, Miller Auditorium
Byron Hurt, Activist, Writer, Documentary Filmmaker
Why Can’t We Speak with Dolphins?
Thursday, October 17, 7:00 pm, Miller Auditorium
Dr. Stan Kuczaj, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, and Director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory, The University of Southern Mississippi
Computer Chess
Friday, October 18, 7:00 pm, Miller Auditorium
A film directed by Andrew Bujalski, in English, 92 min., 2013
Part of the International Cinema Series
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Wednesday, October 23, 7:30 pm, Fox Hall
Katherine Boo, Author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers:Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity and Staff Writer for The New Yorker
Slam Poetry with Natasha “T” Miller
Thursday, October 24, 7:00 pm, Miller Auditorium
Natasha “T” Miller, Spoken Word Artist, Slam Poet
The Making of St. Petersburg
Wednesday, October 30, 4:00 pm, Lewis House
Will Michaels, Ph.D., Author and President of St. Petersburg Preservation
Curing Alzheimer’s Disease by 2020
Tuesday, November 5, 4:00 pm, Lewis House
Dave Morgan, Ph.D., CEO and Director of Basic Neuroscience Research, University of South Florida Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute
What Cells Will Do for Global Climate Change
Thursday, November 14, 7:00 pm, Fox Hall
Timothy Bromage, Ph.D., Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, Professor of Biomaterials and Biomimetics and Director of the Hard Tissue Research Unit, New York University College of Dentistry
