In 2007, Augusta State reluctantly held its last Cullum Lecture Series, an interdisciplinary program that had begun more than 20 years ago to bring nationally and internationally known speakers to campus. However, recognizing the need for a continual collaboration to enhance academic enrichment programs, faculty members from all three colleges began efforts to develop a new, similar program. The result is a semester-long series, The Life of the Mind, which organizers say was inspired by longshoreman and philosopher Eric Hoffer.
“This is a new lecture and enrichment series that was developed with a short turnaround time,” says Dr. Debra van Tuyll, an organizer of the series and a professor of communications. “The main purpose of this series is to help students see what it means to be an intellectually and creatively engaged thinker.”
The interdisciplinary series will kick off Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 6:30 p.m. on the soccer field outside the Jaguar Student Activities Center with a performance by the Not Gaddy Drummers. The event will be followed by refreshments and a poetry reading in the JSAC Ballroom.
Dr. van Tuyll says, “My hope is that the students will begin to see the broader world by attending the events.”
For more information on this program and others scheduled in the series, call the Department of Communications and Professional Writing at 706-667-2416. Other programs include:
Feb. 19
How to Read a Poem. 2:30-3:45 p.m., 170 University Hall.
Feb. 20
Poetry Reading. 6-9 p.m., JSAC Ballroom.
Students and faculty will have the opportunity to read their original poetry.
Feb. 24
The Iliad. 7-8:30 p.m., TBA
Philosophy professor Woody Belangia will read excerpts from The Iliad in the original Greek language, which will be followed by a discussion.
March 5
Presentation by Mike Ryan, opinion page editor, the Augusta Chronicle. 7 p.m., 170 University Hall.
Mr. Ryan’s presentation will focus on Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor who believed that life continued to have meaning even in the most awful circumstances imaginable, and that when physical circumstances become unbearable, one’s mental life offers a means of survival.
March 17
Keynote Speaker. Billy Collins.
Billy Collins, an American Poet Laureate, will give the keynote address for The Life of the Mind series. Mr. Collins’ poetry has won awards including the Mark Twain Award for Humorous Poetry from the Poetry Foundation.
St. Patrick’s Day Poetry Slam. 7 p.m., D. Douglas Barnard, Jr., Amphitheatre.
March 18
Public reading by Billy Collins. 7 p.m., Maxwell Theatre.
March 26
Series debriefing/social event – details TBA
Jan 14, 2009
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