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from the issue of August 23, 2007
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Inaugural Nebraska Colloquium focused on the environment
BY KIM HACHIYA, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Few topics have such broad social, political, economic and intellectual impact as the environment. That makes it a perfect theme for the inaugural Nebraska Colloquium, a university-wide initiative aimed at sparking discussion throughout the academic community.
The colloquium, sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Studies, is a series of events and activities designed to encourage students, faculty, staff and members of the wider community to come together to engage in "substantive conversations," said Patrice Berger, director of the Honors Program and a member of the colloquium's advisory council.
Berger said the colloquium builds upon and enriches the 20-year history of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues. The Thompson Forum's 2007-08 theme is "Changing Nature," which complements the colloquium's exploration of the environment.
Rita Kean, dean of undergraduate studies, said the advisory council is encouraging faculty to incorporate the theme, where appropriate, into syllabi and curriculum.
The broad theme has easily won proponents, Kean and Berger said. The College of Engineering is building spring E-Week activities as part of the colloquium. The College of Journalism and Mass Communications is planning a number of activities to coincide with the Sept. 13 Thompson Lecture to be delivered by Joel Sartore, alumnus and nature photographer.
The first "official" colloquium event is the Centennial Celebration of the life and works of alumnus Loren Eiseley. Events are slated for Sept. 7 and 8. For more information on this event, see www.eiseley.org.
Berger said the Nebraska Colloquium had it roots in the Transitions to University Task Force, which recommended that first-year students have frequent opportunities to come together in intellectual discourse and engagement.
"There is value at a school of our size and diversity, where conversations tend to focus within disciplines, to find a way to have a broader collective engagement on a focused topic," Berger said.
The goal, Kean said, is to help students see the "big picture" and see how their choices have implications beyond their small immediate world. For example, Kean said, she is teaching a merchandising course this fall and she was pleased to see how many ways she can incorporate the theme -- such as globalization of apparel sources, worker rights, "green" apparel and new fibers -- into her course.
Kean said Undergraduate Studies will function as a colloquium clearinghouse, with a Web site (www.unl.edu/nc) that lists activities and events, as well as a space for commentary and related information.
Berger and Kean are gratified by the positive campus response and envision the colloquium developing into a signature program that helps define UNL's academic efforts.
"This is finding the institutional mechanism to help us reconnect our interdisciplinary conversations between and among faculty and students," Berger said. "It is emphatically a community building effort. We begin this year with the idea of integrating the colloquium into our culture by engaging our community, both internal and external, in focused, intelligent and stimulating conversation."
GO TO: ISSUE OF AUGUST 23
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Inaugural Nebraska Colloquium focused on the environment
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