SIUE HOME - OCE HOME Office of Continuing Education Lifelong Learning Activities

Time: Wednesday afternoons, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Cost: $2.00 per person / per session

Location: SIUE, Morris University Center, Mississippi/Illinois Room (unless otherwise noted)

A special $2.00 pass for Visitor Parking Lot B will be available at each session.

January 23, 2008: Wealth Inequality in America
Lori Campbell, Assistant Professor, Sociology
This presentation will focus on two aspects of wealth. First, racial differences in wealth between African Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and Whites will be discussed. Next, the impact of parents' wealth on children's lives, including the quality of children's home environments and child achievement, will be examined.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

January 30, 2008: Language Preservation and Cultural Revitalization in the Native Northwest Coast
Greg Fields, Professor, Philosophy
Salish tribes and other native groups of the Pacific Northwest are having great success in continuing and bringing back their traditional knowledge and cultural traditions. This includes ceremony, songs, dance, and healing practices, and intertribal canoe journeys of two to three weeks, in which dozens of tribes participate. Language and traditional philosophy is being recovered and preserved with the help of both native culture-bearers, most of them elders, and collaboration with scholars and archivists.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

February 6, 2008: Confessions of a Broadcast Journalist
Stephen Jankowski, Director, Alumni Affairs
In 34 years as a Broadcast Journalist, Steve Jankowski has watched the industry change, sometimes not for the better. He candidly discusses the process of gathering news, commercial influences, ethics, and new media.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

February 13, 2008: Long-Term Trends in Violence: The Origins and Nature of Interpersonal Violence
Dennis Mares, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice
This presentation will focus on trends in violent crime. Despite periods of strong increases in violence, it will be demonstrated that trends in violence demonstrate a long-term decline. The nature and causes of periods of changes in violence will be examined, and the relevance for current criminal justice policy will be discussed.
Location: MUC, Redbud-Oak Room

February 20, 2008: A Rising China: An Important Threat to the Future of U.S. Security
Denise DeGarmo, Associate Professor, Political Science
China presents the United States with a serious challenge to its security in the 21st century. China continues to develop its already sophisticated military capabilities. It not only dominates the United States economy, but has been able to acquire trade secrets of US companies. US foregign policy towards China is dominated by businesses in search of profit rather than by traditional security agencies. China possesses the ability to surpass the US' position in the international arena during the 21st century. How should the US respond? This will be the question that Dr. DeGarmo will focus on during this presentation.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

February 27, 2008: Hurricanes and Global Warming
Michael Grossman, Assistant Professor, Geography
The growing body of evidence indicating that global warming is taking place has prompted great concern about how global warming may affect the frequency and intensity of hurricanes. This lecture will discuss the information and behavior of hurricanes and review what we know so far about how global warming may be affecting hurricanes.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

March 5, 2008: Asian Cultural and Health Beliefs
Wai Hsien Cheah, Assistant Professor, Speech Communication
This presentation gives the audience an opportunity to understand the cultural practices and health beliefs of Asians. More specifically, it will address the geography of Asia, defines the term "Asian," and explains the common factors which undergird the cultural practices of people from the various regions on the continent of Asia.
Location: MUC, Redbud-Oak Room

March 19, 2008: Incarcerated Parents: Grandparent Caregiving
Shonda Lawrence, Assistant Professor, Social Work
This discussion will focus on the impact of parental incarceration on children and their maternal and paternal grandparent caregivers. A presentation of statistics on this subject and available resources will be included.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

March 26, 2008: The Relationship Between Negative Life: Events and Cognitive Performance Across the Adult Lifespan
Christopher B. Rosnick, Assistant Professor, Psychology
There is a good deal of evidence that stress is linked with cognitive functioning; however, there are many unanswered questions about the nature of this relationship. In this talk, Dr. Rosnick will address three topics: (a) How does the overall number of reported negative life events relate to cognition? (b) Does the experience of negative life events show similar relationships across miltuple domains of cognition? (c) Does the relationship between negative life events and cognition vary by age? In examining these questions, some evidence has been found for a curvilinear relationship between overall number of negative life events and several aspects of cognition. Dr. Rosnick will discuss these findings in light of current theories of stress and cognitive aging, and present ideas for future research questions.
Location: MUC, Mississippi Room

April 2, 2008: Shi'i Islam
Lucian Stone, Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Daily we read reports of "sectarian" disputes between Sunni and Shi'ite factions; the media, however, has done very little in providing an in-depth understanding of the historical and doctrinal differences between these two sects of Islam. Most of what the general public learns about "Islam" is from a Sunni perspective. Therefore, this lecture aims to round out our understanding of Islam by providing an overview of Shi'ism.
Location: MUC, Mississippi Room

April 9, 2008: Musical Settings of Robert Frost
Marc Schapman, Assistant Professor of Voice, Music
Singers struggle with the art of interpreting and analyzing poetry. They toil and trouble with elements of harmony, melody, rhythm, and, above all, vocal technique; however, they often forget to include the poetics in their quest to perform each piece to absolute potential. There is more behind poetics and its musical influence than most performers observe, and it is wise to realize that the synthesis of music and poetry is what constitutes art song and countless choral settings. Singers utilize words and music as vehicles for communication; therefore, we are ultimately responsible and bound to the concept of understanding poetic influence if we are to attain maximum potential as singers of words, not just sounds.

Many have found a personal voice in the creation of poetic language, and Robert Frost (1874-1963), "The Yankee Poet," is no exception. Frost managed to profoundly affect the poetic genre and leave an imprint on his successors. His influence extends to the nature of musical composition. Frost's poetic style is conducive to musical composition and enables composers to set music which highlights pervasive poetic factors.
Location: 200 University Park, Room 1127

April 16, 2008: Automated Observatory at SIUE
Jeffrey Sabby, Assistant Professor, Physics
As telescopes, scientific grade electronic cameras, observatory domes, and other necessities become more affordable, colleges and universities all over the world are investing in small, yet powerful, remotely accessible automated observatories. In this new and exciting era of observational astronomy, students at the undergraduate level can learn to plan, write, and submit observational proposals in the classroom. Furthermore, the research potential at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional level is outstanding. It is Dr. Sabby's intention to build a remotely accessible automated observatory for both research use and student use. The full implementation of this observatory will be the work of several years.
Location: MUC, Mississippi/Illinois Room

Parking is available in Visitor Parking Lot B. A special $2.00 pass for Lot B will be available at each session.

Cost: $2.00 per person per session

Additional ideas for Dialogue topics are always welcome! Please call Cheryl at 618-650-3209 to share your ideas.

For more information, please contact:
Cheryl Brunsmann, Coordinator
email: cbrunsm@siue.edu
phone: 618-650-3209
fax: 618-650-2629