“[W]orking to make a difference in the civic life of our communities” instills in us the capacity to “participate in activities of personal and public concern that are both individually life enriching and socially beneficial to the community.” How do we develop the skills and values necessary to engage with others in our community? What does it mean to act on behalf of others in addition to – or instead of – for ourselves toward a common goal? How will these actions benefit us as individuals as well as the common good? Join us this year as we investigate our call to Civic Engagement.
All lectures run from 7-8 p.m. in the Boat/Moore rooms of the Maytag Student Center, unless noted. The five scheduled presentations are:
Dr. Joshua Doležal, professor of English, and Dr. Brian Campbell, director of sustainability education
This lecture will be held in Cox-Snow Recital Hall.
This series of podcasts traces the theme Homecoming through eight stories of native Iowans who left the Midwest, then came back to stay. We ask them what drew them away to begin with, what pulled them back, and how they contribute now to a changing Midwest (how they are changing the environment that they once felt they had to leave).
Dr. Andrew Green, professor of political science
Although Iowa was carried by Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Trump won the popular vote in 2016 in 93 of its 99 counties, 32 of which were carried by Obama in 2012. Trump’s electoral victory was shaped by three key factors: the electorate’s desire for “change” in Washington, D.C.; Trump’s successful appeals to both the Republican base and white, working-class voters who had previously supported Barack Obama; and Iowa’s conservative ideological tendency regarding immigration and race.
Dr. Green, an expert in American politics and policy, political behavior, and state and local politics, has taught at Central College since 2005.
Dr. Paul Weihe, associate professor of biology, and Dr. Cathy Haustein, professor of chemistry
This year’s Common Read, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s What the Eyes Don’t See, brought attention to the story behind the discovery of the lead in Flint’s water supply. Our resident water and lead experts discuss whether this is something that could happen in our own community.
Dr. Weihe, an expert in wetland ecosystems, ethnobotany, ecology and environmental science, has taught at Central College since 1998.
Dr. Haustein, an expert in analytical chemistry, inorganic chemistry instrumental analysis, the extraction of alkaloids from natural products, environmentally-friendly laboratory experiences, and fluorescence spectroscopy, has taught at Central since 1983.
Cynthia Mahmood, Frank Moore Endowed Chair in Anthropology and professor of anthropology
Sikhism is a faith tradition in which the spirit and the world are of one piece; prayer and meditation are but the other side of service to community. Ethnographic work with Sikhs reveals a complex theology and history around this concept, which inspires a similarly engaged ethos in the anthropologist herself.
Dr. Mahmood, an expert on human rights, have been at Central since 2014.
Dr. Kathy Korcheck, professor of Spanish
According to the United Nations, approximately twelve women a day are murdered in Latin America. #Niunamenos (Not One Woman Less), an evolving social movement in Argentina, originated in 2015 as a collective protest against femicide but has since expanded its scope to address reproductive rights, social and economic inequality and LGBTQ issues as well. This presentation explores #Niunamenos as a grassroots feminist movement grounded in women’s longstanding role in mobilizing public space and motivating social transformation in Argentina. We will examine how the strategic use of the urban landscape and its past and present symbology compels city dwellers and visitors to move from empathy to engagement throughout Buenos Aires.
Dr. Korcheck, an expert in contemporary literature, film of Spain, documentary film and memory studies, has taught at Central since 2007.
