December 11, 2015 College Libraries in Uganda: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

College Libraries in Uganda: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

In this presentation, Normandale Library Faculty member Rachel Wightman and University of Minnesota Librarian Brian Conn will share their experiences working in Ugandan libraries, as well as research on college libraries in sub-Saharan Africa. They will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities facing East African libraries and also cultural reflections that can be applied here in the US.

Friday, December 4, 2015 Eric Wardell: Depression, Suicide, and Robin Williams: Why the Public Needs a New Rhetoric for Male Depression.

Depression, Suicide, and Robin Williams: Why the Public Needs a New Rhetoric for Male Depression.

In this presentation, Eric Wardell will examine the issues with the public perception of male depression and suicide, using the recent passing of Robin Williams as a lens. This presentation will discuss how we as a community must stop dismissing depression as a serious illness and how we must stop denying depressed people their ability to experience and appropriately cope with the symptoms of depression. This presentation will show the ways public perception of gender roles are often in conflict with depressive behaviors and will offer a new way to discuss the issue and the illness in hopes of reducing suicide rates.

November 20, 2015 The Amazing Life and Leadership of King Hussein of Jordan: My First Hand Experience.

This Friday, November 20, 2015, Dan Creed, faculty in Business/Hospitality Management, will present the following colloquium from noon-12:50 p.m. in C-1016:

The amazing life and leadership of King Hussein of Jordan; my first hand experience.

November 13, 2015 Pierre Callies, Faculty in Business: Cross Sectional Economic Impacts of Four-Lane Highway Interchanges

Anna George Meek reads from her New Book of Poetry

This Friday, November 6, 2015, Anna George Meek, Faculty in English, will read from her newly published book of poetry, The Genome Rhapsodies, from noon-12:50 p.m. in C-1016. Anna is an award winning poet, and her readings and explications will be interesting and compelling.

October 30, 2015 Dallas Rising: Language and Speciesism

In this short presentation, long time animal rights activist and writer, Dallas Rising, will address how the language we use to talk about animals shapes the way we think about them and ultimately how we treat them.

 

She'll address issues of framing, euphemisms, and the difference a simple, maybe even apparently arbitrary word choice can change the meaning of the ideas and ideologies we present or support.

 

This talk will be of interest to anyone interested in the way our society treats animals and word enthusiasts alike.

October 23, 2015 Identifying Rape Culture: Feminist and Queer Analysis of Media Messages

 Brad Gangnon, Faculty in Communications, presenting:

Identifying Rape Culture: Feminist and Queer Analysis of Media Messages 

This presentation offers a clear definition of American rape culture and offers two analytical tools (feminism and queer theory) to help students recognize and reject sexual violence in memes, music videos, television, and movies. The presentation includes images and video clips connecting mainstream American culture to a culture of sexual violence and rape. 

October 9, 2015 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Minnesota and Their Growing Impact on the Environment

 

 

 

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Minnesota and Their Growing Impact on the Environment

 

Presenters: Sonja Trom Eayrs & Brian Wolff

 

Sonja Trom Eayrs is an attorney with the law firm of Lindquist & Vennum LLP in Minneapolis.  Sonja grew up on a farm in Dodge County in southeastern Minnesota.  Following installation of the 11^th swine feedlot in a 3-mile radius of the Trom family farm, the Trom family said enough!  Sonja’s parents filed a lawsuit against Dodge County and the feedlot operator.  The Trom family has been at ground zero of Minnesota’s groundwater crisis for the past year.  Sonja has gained extensive knowledge and information regarding industrial agriculture, the easy permitting of feedlots, and the detrimental effects on the environment.  Come and learn about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) – the  facts, the regulatory framework and concerns for Minnesota residents. 

 

Brian Wolff is a biology instructor at Normandale and an environmental biologist interested in agriculturally-driven environmental problems.

October 2, 2015 Under the Influence: Modernism and Dada. James Joyce's Influence on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Writing; Dada's Influence on the Writing of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Friday, October 2, 2015, from noon-12:50 p.m. in C-1016, a colloquium will be presented by Dan Darling and Patrick O’Donnell, faculty in English, on the following topic:

Under the Influence: Modernism and Dada. James Joyce's influence on F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing; Dada's influence on the writing of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The course of Modernism was influenced by many diverse forces both literary and artistic.  Dadaism was one of those formative forces that broke new ground in Modernism and paved the way for many innovations in literature and the visual arts, particularly the writing of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Likewise, there are parallels between James Joyce and F. Scott Fitzgerald that were seminal influences on Modernism as well as on their individual creative works.

September 25, 2015 North to Alaska: Explorations in Kenai Fjords and Denali National Parks

North to Alaska: Explorations in Kenai Fjords and Denali National Parks

Richard E. Brown, Faculty in English

Alaska is known as “The Last Frontier” by its citizens.  Indeed, it is a wild and wondrous place.  It is home to more National Parks and Preserves than any other state in America.  Many are inaccessible except by float plane.  Two of the more accessible, and therefore the most popular, are Kenai Fjords and Denali National Parks.  Come join in a visual exploration of these two remarkable parks and see what they have to offer.

The Beat Goes On September 18, 2015

Jack Kerouac

Gary Snyder

Allen Ginsberg

"The Beat Goes On: Readings and discussion by faculty and students in the spirit of the Beat generation, with an open mic." 

The Beat Movement of literature was a tour de force in the literary world of the 1950s and the early 1960s.  It was a rebellious reaction against the prevailing conservatism of the times, and it broke new ground in individual freedom as well as explored avenues of thought that inspired many social movements that followed. The Beats had a message of individuality and freedom, but also had a strong philosophical and intellectual foundation. The Beat movement was not simply based on hedonism, but had an ambitious intellectual discipline embedded in its core.

May 8, 2015 “Was the Monarch a Muse? Queen Elizabeth’s Influence on William Shakespeare.” Patrick O'Donnell PhD., Faculty in English

 “Was the monarch a muse? Queen Elizabeth’s influence on William Shakespeare.” Shakespeare, as an actor, playwright, and sharer, performed in the public theatres, but he also - with his company the Lord Chamberlain’s Men - presented his plays before the fierce and theatrical Tudor Protestant, Queen Elizabeth. This presentation will argue that she should be considered as much more significant than simply an audience member for his work. More precisely, she may have influenced his imagination in such profound and surprising ways that she should be classed as a dynamic and electrifying muse. This colloquium will open up questions rather than fully answering them.

 

Originally from Dublin, Patrick O’Donnell has happily called Minnesota home for more than twenty years. He is a literary historian in Normandale’s English Department with research interests in the Tudor Renaissance and Shakespeare; Modernism and James Joyce; and, in particular, the weird and strange and highly speculative problem of influence in literary creativity.  

May 1, 2015 Letting Go of the Perfect Girl: Disney and the Representation of Women

This Friday, Jennifer Miller will be presenting the following colloquium from noon-12:50 p.m. in C-1018:

 

Letting Go of the Perfect Girl: Disney and the Representation of Women

 

Many people have long been critical of the representation of women and girls in Disney’s classic movies.  Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and Cinderella—all these women are examples of passive princesses who sit around (or sleep), waiting for Prince Charming to come rescue them.  In recent years, however, with movies such as Tangled (2010), Brave (2012), and most recently, Frozen (2013), things seem to be changing.  The heroines of these movies are more active, taking their fates into their own hands.  Some of these movies even avoid the traditional love story, focusing instead on relationship between family and friends.

 

But have things really changed?  Has Disney really let go of the idea of the stereotypical, “perfect” princess?  In this colloquium, Normandale English professor Jennifer Miller will examine the representation of women in Disney’s Frozen to see if characters such as Anna and Elsa really are an improvement over princesses like Cinderella and Ariel.

April 24, 2015 Atmospheric Kilns

 

Lazare Rottach (Normandale Faculty in Art)

 and Keith J. Williams (Art and Design Chair at Concordia University, St. Paul)

 

Lazare Rottach (Normandale Faculty in Art) and Keith J. Williams (Art and Design Chair at Concordia University, St. Paul) will present their findings from the Extraordinary Education Collaboration Grant awarded in 2013.  This project involves the construction and continual joint usage of atmospheric kilns located at Concordia University. Atmospheric kilns are usually high temperature kilns in which specific firing atmospheres, (beyond simply heating the kilns), are introduced for a variety of aesthetic and sometimes practical effects. The discussion will focus on the challenges involved in designing the kilns and the outdoor kiln space, the construction phase and some early results of the project. We will also discuss the collaborative work that continues ahead of us and the important opportunities that grants like this can provide in creating excellent programs that encourage more expansive educational objectives and outcomes.

April 17, 2015 Sexism and Speciesism

 

Dallas Rising: Director of the Animal Rights Coalition of Minnesota

 

Sexism and Speciesism: In our culture, both women's bodies and animal's bodies are objectified, consumed, and commodified and I'll have a slideshow presentation with visual examples of this phenomenon. I will also, of course, be giving suggestions about how we can take steps to create a safer world for everyone, beginning with a frank discussion about the meaning of consent and respect.

 

 

 

April 10, 2015 Travels along the Mississippi: A Minnesota Boy goes Downstream

 

Travels along the Mississippi: A Minnesota Boy goes Downstream

 

Richard Dunning, Faculty in Geology

 

Student engagement is a challenge for all teachers and a fundamental component of the learning process.  I began my 2011-2012 sabbatical with a desire to use the Mississippi River as a central focus around which to increase student engagement in my Environmental Geology class.  Environmental Geology is really about how geology affects people so the basic question of my project was to find out how many ways the Mississippi River affects us; as individuals, as residents of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and as citizens of the U.S.  The answer is of course, a lot.  The primary activity of the project was to travel the length of the Mississippi and find out about the ways that the river affects the people that live within its wide sphere of influence.  In this brief presentation I want to share some of what I learned in those travels. 

April 3, 2015, Ask an Atheist--Evan Munn of the Secular Student Alliance

Ask an Atheist: Religion, Psychology, and Living without God

 

In this presentation, Normandale student Evan Munn of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) will first discuss the psychological reasons people believe in a god or gods. He will talk about his own experiences with these mechanisms and use analogies to open people's minds to the idea that science is well on its way to explaining how religion can take hold in someone's mind. Evan, along with other SSA members, will then hold an “Ask an Atheist” session during which attendees can ask “no holds barred” questions about what it's like to be a non-believer.