The Robert I. Strozier Faculty Lecture Series

The AASU Robert I. Strozier Faculty Lecture Series continues throughout the 2009-2010 academic year. All lectures will be held at 12:10 p.m. in University Hall 156 on the AASU campus and are free and open to the public. This year’s series dishes up lectures on topics ranging from the current economic downturn, to the revolutionary role of the chili pepper in Chinese cuisine, to stained glass, and banana cultivation in non-tropical climates. The schedule is as follows:

September 11, 2009
Douglas E. Masini, head of respiratory therapy, kicks off the series with “The Promise of an Accidental Pedagogy,” a lecture that will pose a challenge to educators to consider an accidental learning model in academic fields.
Massini offers that educators uphold the classroom-laboratory learning model. Learning that is valued and useful in life, however, often occurs quietly, implicitly and accidentally. Experience teaches lessons that you know you know (explicit knowledge) and things that you don’t know you know (implicit or tacit knowledge). The accidental pedagogy is based on lessons learned from people who awakened one day and found they could not move, breathe or speak, yet who wished to control and master their living and learning environment.

September 25, 2009
June Hopkins, head of the history department, will present “Echoes from the Thirties.” Hopkins will examine the similarities and differences between the current economic downturn and the crisis of the 1930s.

October 16, 2009
Richard Wallace, professor of chemistry, will present “Development and Evaluation of Bananas for Non-tropical Climates.” Wallace will summarize some of his findings during his decade-long research to grow edible and ornamental banana trees in south Georgia.

November 13, 2009
Daniel Skidmore-Hess, professor of political science, will present “Rosa Luxemburg: Leadership, Tragedy and Art.” Skidmore-Hess’ lecture will explore the life of Luxemburg, a key figure at the turn of the 20th-century revolutionary socialist movement and a descendant of the maskilim, or supporters of the Jewish Enlightenment.

January 29, 2010
Deborah S. Jamieson, assistant professor of art, will present “German Stained Glass in Georgia: The Presence of Franz Mayer and Company.” Jamieson will discuss the popularity of the Munich-based, 19th century exporter of ecclesiastical stained glass. The popularity of Franz Mayer’s work is apparent in tens of thousands of churches in the United States. In Georgia, Savannah, Atlanta, Macon and Augusta possess complete and original works by Franz Mayer and Co.

February 19, 2010
Mike Mahan, head of middle and secondary education, will present “What’s All This Fuss About Evolution and Creation and Intelligent Design and Who Cares?” Mahan will review and examine the most recent state and federal court decisions on the national debate about teaching evolution vs. creation in public school classrooms. The debate has surfaced in recent years under the name of “Intelligent Design Theory.” Mahan considers a novel idea that the two theories may not be mutually exclusive.

March 26, 2010
Hongjie Wang, professor of history, will present “Spicy Sichuan: Chili Pepper, Regional Identity and Chinese Revolution.” Wang will explore the diffusion of the chili pepper in China and its revolutionary role in transforming the cuisine of the Sichuan province. The pepper helped to reshape the regional identity of Sichuan in the tumultuous modern era. It formulated the well-accepted association between the relish for spicy food and the character of Sichuanese people and their contributions to the Chinese revolution.

April 16, 2010
Eric S. Kildow, professor of theater, will present “Seeking the American Theater: It Is Closer than You Think.” Kildow will discuss the history of the American theater and the idea that, unlike the majority of Western industrial nations, the United States has no single, institutional, national theater. Instead, it boasts an extensive system of first-rate regional theaters as a surrogate. Kildow explores the roots of this difference in the foundations of American social and political culture, paying close attention to the issue of American decentralization in the debates of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists and the discussion of the states by Alexis de Tocqueville in order to find clues to the future of American cultural policy.

For further information on the 2009-2010 Robert I. Strozier Faculty Lecture Series, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).