Honors Events - Archive | University Honors Program | SIU

Spring 2021

Why Academics Need to be Part of the Farmers’ Protests in India?:  University Honors is proud to co-host a webinar on the historic farmers' agitation currently underway in India.  Other participating institutions are: University of Amsterdam, School of Cultural Analysis; University College London; British Association of South Asian Studies; and The Scholars at Risk Network.

Saturday, February 27, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. 

Recording available here

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Honors Faculty Research Series: Dr. Jean-Pierre Reed (Associate Professor, Sociology)  discusses his new book, Sandinista Narratives: Religion, Sandinismo, and Emotions in the Making of the Nicaraguan Insurrection and Revolution with John Foran (Professor, Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara). The work examines the cultural, ideological, eventful, and emotional factors behind the Nicaraguan insurrection and revolution.

Tuesday, March 2,  5:00 to 7 PM.  

Recording available here

Fall 2020

HearTomorrow:  A free online lecture by Benji Kanters promotes awareness of the increasing problem of noise and music-induced hearing loss. Kanters has 45 years of experience in the music and audio industries and will present new strategies for promoting hearing conservation.  Read more here.  Email honors@siu.edu for the ZOOM link and write “Sound Workshop” in the email subject line.

Friday, Aug. 28th, 1 -P.M.

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Book Launch:  Celebrating a new anthology by Honors Faculty, Dr. Jeffrey Punske (Linguistics), coedited with Nathan Sanders and Amy Fountain, Language Invention and Linguistics Pedagogy. (Oxford University Press).  Read more

Thursday, October 15, 5:00-6:00 PM with discussion to follow. To join in, request a zoom link from honors@siu.edu.

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The Fall 2020 Glassman Lecture will feature the artist, Ben Lowder.  Titled, Temples of Little Egypt, the art exhibition and installation at Bucky's Haven on the SIU Carbondale campus draws together sacred geometry, ancient wisdom traditions, and the legacy of Buckminster Fuller into a holistic narrative to guide our collective trajectory toward an abundant and integrated future. Read more

Professor Jay Needham's, Nature of Sound Honors Seminar builds on Ben Loweder's installation. Listen here.

Wednesday, October 28, 5:00 PM: Meet the artist virtual talk and showcase. 

Several limited capacities “Meet the Artist” events will take place at Bucky’s Haven: October 27^th, 28^th & 29^th (RSVP only).  Contact Elizabeth Donoghue at elizabeth.donoghue@siu.edu for more information

Recording of the Glassman Lecture

Spring 2020

Discovering Dunham: A Lecture Exploration with Laurie Goux  In celebration of Black History Month,  Laurie Goux will give a lecture exploration, in which she will speak about Katherine Dunham’s work as a choreographer and political activist and explore the movements of the Yanavalou, an Afro-Haitian ritual dance that Dunham drew upon in her choreography.

Thursday, February 6th, 4-6 PM, Furr Auditorium 

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The Tenney Distinguished lecture, Climate Change: Understanding the Role of Humans will be delivered by Dr. Justin Schoof, Professor Geography, Director, School of Earth Systems and Sustainability. Read more

Thursday, February 20th, 6-8 PM, Guyon Auditorium

In the news

Did you miss the lecture, check it out here!

Tenney Lecture 2020 Climate Change from Saluki World on Vimeo.

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Breaking News February 20, 2020:  Interim Chancellor John Dunn signs the Second Nature Climate Commitment.  This would not have happened today without the engaged leadership of students on campus and the Sustainability Office. Four Honors students are standing behind the Chancellor in this picture! Thank you, Gage Mofield, Cecilia Albert-Black, Carly Kasicki, Kirsten Gard. And, not pictured -- Jacob Bolton and Grant Depoy.

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Survival Cluster Faculty Showcase:  Dr. Kenneth Stikkers (Professor, Philosophy); Dr. David Lightfoot (Professor, Plant Soil and Agricultural Systems); Dr. Logan Park (Associate Professor, Forestry Recreation and Park Management); Dr. Alfred Frankowski, (Assistant Professor, Philosophy); and Dr. Jean-Pierre Reed (Associate Professor, Sociology) will present on their research-teaching about the year’s theme, Survival. Read more

Tuesday, March 3rd, 4-6 PM, Guyon Auditorium

Fall 2019

Survival Cluster Student Showcase:   Survival and the Arts (Professor Laurel Fredrickson) is having a showing of Ai Weiwei’s film Human Flow on December 5^th at 6 PM In Morris 724. Innovations in Sustainability (student-generated by Carly Kasicki & Jacob Coddington); Forests and Humans (Professor Cade Bursell); and Survival Stories (Professor Pinckney Benedict) will showcase work and make presentations, on December 6th from 5:30-7:CPM in the Morris Library Guyon and Rotunda.

December 5th and 6th, 2019

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Race, Rape and the Ultimate Scapegoat:  In anticipation of the Department of Theater's production of To kill a Mocking Bird. Written by Harper Lee and Directed by Segun Ojewuyi,  the Honors Program hosted a discussion featuring Dr. Jyotsna Kapur (Professor, Cinema, and Photography), McCall Logan (MFA Student in Playwriting, Instructor, Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies), Caleb R. McKinley-Portee (Ph.D. Student in Communication Studies, Representative for Africana Studies), and Victoria Estes (Theater Undergraduate studying Dramaturgy and Playwriting).  The title of the panel was taken from Tracey Owens Patton and Julie Snyder-Yuly, Any Four Black Men Will Do: Rape, Race, and the Ultimate Scapegoat, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 37, No. 6 (Jul. 2007), pp. 859-895

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November 12th, 4-6 PM, Morris 112

The Charles D. Tenney Lecture, Fall 2019 features a film screening and discussion with the filmmaker.  Anand Patwardhan will screen Vivek/Reason a documentary epic that traces the rise of authoritarianism in India and resistance to it. A rare opportunity to meet one of the world's leading documentary filmmakers and experience the power of cinema as the maker and keeper of history on the side of struggles for democracy and justice.  In the press

October 21st, 2019: Screening and discussion 4:00-6:00 PM, to be followed by a reception; Guyon Auditorium, Morris Library. 

A Review of Reason by Jyotsna Kapur in Jump Cut, No. 59, Fall 2019

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The Nancy and Michael Glassman lecture will be delivered by Kurt Przybilla, a celebrated inventor, and educator, known for his media-based interactive projects that teach children complex math principles. He is particularly known for his invention of “Tetra Tops,” the world’s first spinning top with more than one axis of spin, featured in the New York Times and the Smithsonian Institute.

Przybilla will speak on Fuller’s “World Game,” a concept that Fuller proposed in the 1960s here at SIUC as  “…a tool that would facilitate a comprehensive, anticipatory, design science approach to the problems of the world.” 

October 9th, 2019: Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library on Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., followed by a reception.

October 8th, 2019: "Build a Geodesic Dome" Join  Kurt Przybilla, in constructing a geodesic dome from locally sourced bamboo in the Morris Library quad from 2:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.   

October 7th, 2019: Meet the Inventor Workshop. Przybilla will conduct a workshop with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders on geometric construction, 4-5:15, Student Center Ohio Room. 

In the press

Recording of Kurt Przybilla's Glassman's lecture

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From Fall 2019, some University Honors Seminars have been organized around a themed cluster.  Our Fall 2019-Spring 2020 theme is Survival. The Inaugural Faculty Showcase and Student Awards ceremony highlights students on their accomplishments, as well as provides faculty with the platform to share what their students are studying throughout the semester; including our first student-generated course.

October 1st, 2019: Inaugural Faculty Showcase and Student Awards, 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm, Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library 

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The University Honors Program collaborates with campus colleagues to celebrate a month around Labor and Art. From August 29-September 27, there will be a poetry reading, presentations, screenings, and an art exhibit.  Check it out here

Spring 2019

Celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Buckminster Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth legacy:

February 5-9, 2019: 

The Honors Program collaborated with MCMA, Morris Library, Sustainability Studies, School of Architecture, and two RSOs—Sense and the Honors Assembly to organize the First Tenney Lecture of 2019 on Buckminster Fuller, especially honoring the 50^th anniversary of the publication of his Spaceship Earth; a work he wrote on our campus.  In fact, the Foreword to the book was written by Professor Charles Tenney.

Event Poster

Our main guest for the Buckminster-focused Tenney Lecture is David McConville, a media artist, researcher, and educator who serves as the Chairperson of the Buckminster Fuller Institute and is co-founder of Spherical, an integrative design and research studio based in Oakland, CA.  Recording of David McConville's Lecture, An Invisible Revolution

Kurt Przybilla, from the Buckminster Fuller Institute conducted a workshop, “The Geometry of Thinking."

Patricia Ravasio, who wrote The Girl from Spaceship Earth joined us as well, introducing Fuller's ideas to students on campus.