Dean William Parks 2008 Colloquium Continues!

“Individual Conscience and the Collective Good”:
the Future of the 21^st Century

This year, we will explore what author Doris Lessing describes as the major struggle of the modern world: “the conflict between the individual conscience and the collective good.” In addition, this year CNU will join with PBS' award-winning documentary series POV (point of view) (new window) to bring to our campus a series of films on this theme.

Through the scholarly talks, documentary films and literary readings described below, we will explore how traditional and modern cultures deal with important issues like religion, the environment, scientific theory, gender and leadership, politics, immigration and business. Our speakers and films will ask us to think about how individuals formulate moral conscience, how societies define justice and, most importantly, what happens when that individual conscience comes into conflict with larger notions of a “collective good.”

All major presentations will take place in Ferguson 's Music and Theatre Hall. Smaller workshops will be scheduled in the David Student Center . All events are free and open to the CNU and general community.

This program is co-sponsored by a number of other groups on campus and we thank them for their support: the Bangel Lecture in Judaism, the Business School , CNU Library, the Honors Program, Leadership and American Studies, the Provost's Office and Multicultural Affairs.

For more information, please contact Professor Roberta Rosenberg, Chair of the Dean Parks Committee (rrosenb@cnu.edu ) or any of the other committee members: Professors Richard Beauchamp, Elizabeth Kaufer, Linda Johnson and Patrick Walker.

Please note that all links on this page open into a new window.

Spring Term 2008
February 7:
Professor Warren Belasco will speak about the future and safety of food and discuss his interdisciplinary book, Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took on the Food Industry and Americans on the Road . Lecture at 7pm in the Ferguson Music and Theatre Hall. Workshop at 3:30 pm in Madison Hall of the David Student Center . Workshop leader: Professor Scott Pollard.

March 5:
Screening of PBS documentary film, “ Darwin 's Dangerous Idea” about the contemporary struggles between Darwinian and religious conceptions of the origins of the earth. Screening at 7pm in the Ferguson Music and Theatre Hall. Discussion leader: Professor Linda Johnson.

March 18:
Professor Kenneth Miller of Brown University, presents “ God, Darwin, & Design: Thoughts about America's Continuing Problem with Evolution.” Evidence supporting the theory of evolution is pervasive in all fields of biology, and allows modern science to place the origin of the human species into its proper scientific context.  But evolution remains controversial, especially in the United States, and is widely seen as embracing a worldview that many Americans find objectionable, even reprehensible.  Conflicts over the teaching of evolution have become commonplace in many American communities, leading to public battles fought out in local and state elections, and even in federal court. Professor Miller will address the aspects of evolution that seem to provoke such responses, and will suggest that the science of Darwinian evolution can be understood in an entirely different way that might well lead to a reduction in the apparent conflicts between science and religion in our society. Lecture at 7pm at the Ferguson Music and Theatre Hall. Workshop at 3:30 Madison Hall of the David Student Center.

April 1:
Filmmaker Maryann Breschard's will screen and discuss her probing documentary “Running in High Heels,” (co-sponsored by the School of Business and the Leadership and American Studies.) Through the story of one political candidate, Breschard interviews a variety of female political leaders from left, right and center about the future of feminine political leadership in the United States . Lecture at 7pm at the Ferguson Music and Theatre Hall. Workshop at 3:30 Madison Hall of the David Student Center. Workshop leader: Professor Michelle Barnello.

April:
Film “Running in High Heels” will be available for screening in all CNU classes. Please contact Professor Rosenberg if you would like to use the film in your classes.

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For more information, contact Prof. Roberta Rosenberg, (rrosenb@cnu.edu; 757-594-7149)
in the Department of English at Christopher Newport University.