2011-12 ~ Turning Points Faculty Speaker Series Series
Lectures held from 5:15-6:15 in CF 110 - (Communication Facility)
All Lectures are Held on Wednesday's
The Turning Points Faculty Speaker Series celebrates the wealth of knowledge
&
talent on Western’s campus. The series features one hour eclectic talks by faculty
who are experts in their field.
Turning Points Lectures are free and open to the public - no tickets required.
February 15, 2012
Troy Abel, Enviornmental Studies
“Ecotopia’s Prism - Five Seasons in Costa Rica’s Ecology, Economy, and Culture”
Drawing on his research collaborations over the past five years with Western students, faculty, and Costa Rican’s conserving tropical rainforests; Abel will share his insights on ecological citizenship, political biogeography, and immersions in some of the most biologically intense places on the planet. His effort’s overriding philosophy has been that while Costa Rica’s world renowned system of protected areas and national parks is where the nation’s conservation of biodiversity began, it will be finished, for the good or the bad, outside of them.
Costa Rica is translated as rich coast; a name originating from Spanish conquistadors who mistakenly thought the land was filled with gold. Many now recognize that Costa Rica’s riches are in fact more green than gold with more than 4% of the world’s estimated biodiversity. Countless observers have documented this nation’s natural exceptionalism but there is so much more to this tiny republic. Costa Rica has universal health care, a longer life expectancy than the U.S., the happiest people on the planet, and no military. Only by expanding our attention to all of these faces can one begin to see Ecotopia’s Prism—how Costa Rica’s intersections of ecology, economy, and culture foster and inhibit sustainability.
Troy Abel received a Ph.D in Public Policy from George Mason s University. He is an associate professor of Environmental Studies and Program Director of Huxley’s annual Rainforest Immersion and Conservation Action (RICA) study abroad initiative in Costa Rica. His scholarship focuses on the environmental governance challenge of informing policy with sophisticated social and ecological science while simultaneously increasing transparency and participation in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental and conservation policies. He has explored why we often frame environmental problems and solutions in only technical or democratic prisms and how this hinders ecological governance. He argues that we need better science and better governance, and a better integration of the two. The convergence and resolution of these rationalizing and democratizing impulses is a prominent feature of Abel’s research programs on environmental justice, environmental information disclosure, and the conservation of biodiversity.
No permit is required to park after 4:30 p.m. in the gravel lots 12A and the C lots south of the Communications Facility, near Fairhaven College. Parking meters require payment all hours.
For more information about the Turning Points faculty speaker series call:
(360) 650-7545 or visit http//www.wwu.edu/turningpoints
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April 11, 2012
George Mariz, History
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October 19, 2011
Rich Brown, Theatre and Dance
The Transformative Power of Devising
Brown presented results from his ongoing research into the art of devising new works for the stage with undergraduate students. Devised works are those which are collaboratively created by an ensemble of artists rather than by a single playwright, and then performed by those same generative artists. This lecture explored the challenges/ benefits of embracing collective intelligence when creating new theatrical material, explained the differences between writing text and writing performance, and investigated different approaches to devising.
In his lecture, Brown discussed the making of cheat, US, and The American Family – three devised works created at Western over past four years. The American Family premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland last July; US is currently being held for possible selection for this winter’s regional American College Theatre Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado; and Professor Brown and Professor Craig Dunn of CBE are currently co-authoring a textbook chapter for Business Ethics and Aesthetics titled “Cheat: Exporting Business Ethics to Theatre Arts.”
Brown earned his PhD in Theatre with an emphasis in acting, directing and devising from the Univ. of Oregon. After training with Stephen Wangh and Mary Overlie at NYU' s Experimental Theatre Wing, Rich taught acting, directing, and dramatic literature at Hartwick College before coming to WWU, where he currently teaches devising & acting movement. He has published in Theatre Topics and Theatre Journal; presented at Association of Theatre in Higher Ed. conferences in performed with Mary Overlie in the Shady Corners Performance Art Festival, and co-founded Theatre 88, which produced The Zoo Story and What I Heard About Iraq, which performed at LaMama E.T.C. in New York City & Montreal.
Rich teaches Grotowski inspired psychophysical acting, Suzuki, Viewpoints, and classes in devising/literature at WWU. Recent directing credits include: Dog Sees God, The Lesson, and the devised works cheat and Commedia in the Parks. For the past two summers he has led Viewpoint Intensives for Teatrul Fara Frontiere at the National Theatre of Romania in Bucharest and the Portland, Oregon devising company hand2mouth. This year Rich will direct The Mistakes Madeline Made and the Theatre Ambassadors Tour to New York, London, and Japan. He co-founded a new pilot Moment Work Intensive with members of Tectonic Theatre Project that combined seven WWU students with seven Bucknell University students for three weeks of training in summer 2010._____________________________________________________
November 16, 2011
Pamela Whalley,
Economics Education Center
Nice People Don’t Talk About ItConsider the following:
- Only 70% of children who start ninth grade graduate four years later;
- Financial difficulties are the number one reason students don’t attend or drop out of college;
- Financial incompatibility and mismanagement are listed as the number one cause of divorce;
- Poor financial choices played a role in causing the Great Recession.
The common theme is financial illiteracy. We know that students are leaving high school financially illiterate. Scores on financial literacy tests given to high school students nationwide have fallen 16% since 1998 to an average of 48.3%. Recent surveys of college students indicate that their level of knowledge isn’t much higher, with average scores in the 60% range. Despite the need for financial education, Washington does not require financial education at the k-12 level. So where do our children learn about personal finance? They report that they learn by observation at home or from their peers. However, more people talk to their children about sex than talk to them about money and their peers are apt to be equally uninformed.
At this meeting we will explore ways to begin the conversation about money in our schools and in our homes so that our children will be prepared for the financial world which awaits them. The reality is that our children aren’t failing personal finance—we are failing to provide them with this vital life skill.
Pam Whalley is director of the Center for Economic & Financial Education at Western and is also president of the Washington Council for Economic and Financial Education. As director/president, she presents teacher training workshops and community outreach programs on economics and personal financial topics to educators across the state. Pam is currently Vice Chair of the Financial Education Public/Private Partnership and chair of its education committee. FEPPP is charged by the legislature with increasing the level of financial literacy of Washington’s k-12 students. In this capacity she coordinated the first k-12 district wide rollout of financial education in the state. Her research interests include work in financial education, and she had two books, "Financial Fitness for Life Parent’s Guide k-5 and the Financial Fitness for Life Parent’s Guide 6-12" published this fall.
Whalley received her graduate and undergraduate training in economics at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. Her teaching experience includes service at Indiana University, IU-PUI, Whatcom Community College, and WWU. _____________________________________________________
POSTPONED until 2012-2013 Series
Jeanne Armstrong,Western Libraries“From Hull House to Institutional Housekeeping: Academic Women and Community from the Twentieth
to the Twenty-First Century”
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(360) 650-7545 or visit http//www.wwu.edu/turningpoints(360) 650-7545 or FOR MORE INFORMATION or disability accommodations -
Call: 360-650-7545 or email Fran.Maas@wwu.edu
SEE ARCHIVE PAGE - for previous Turning Points Speaker Series Presenters
