Schedule: 2011-2012
The Arab Spring: Where Are the Swallows?
Heather Keaney
Assistant Professor of History
Jim Wright
Westmont in Istanbul
both at Westmont
Thursday, October 20, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.
This talk will look at whether the Arab Spring was inevitable, why it happened and what may take place as spring turns to summer.
The speakers, who are married, were living in Egypt during the Egyptian Revolution and were based there during the past decade, so the talk will focus on Egypt as one exemplar of the Arab Spring. The presentation will combine big- picture historical analysis with more personal, anecdotal insights.
While the issue of what comes next is inevitably speculative, the couple will try to extrapolate from the multiple and often contradictory forces at play to suggest some possible outcomes.
The speakers will leave a generous amount of time for questions and answers as they realize there are many points of entry into this rich and challenging topic.They would like to be as responsive to audience interest as the time and the limits of their knowledge permit.Hot Topics and Highlights in Public Education
Michelle Hughes
Assistant Professor of Education at Westmont
Thursday, November 10, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.
Today’s educational climate screams of complex issues regarding budget, No Child Left Behind, testing, technology, state and Common Core Standards, teacher quality, and social issues. Such issues permeate the media and people’s perceptions of public education. Are there educational bright spots and highlights in our local community? Professor Hughes will share the hidden treasures and stories of success in Santa Barbara County’s public schools that foster and promote student achievement in our community.
National and Global Security in the 21st Century
Susan Penksa
Professor of Political Science
Tom Knecht
Associate Professor of Political Science
both at Westmont
Thursday, February 9, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.
In advance of former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ presentation at the Westmont President’s Breakfast on March 2, 2012, Susan Penksa and Tom Knecht, Westmont professors of political science, will analyze the challenges of national and global security. Among the topics to be discussed are the changing nature of power and security, domestic sources of American foreign policy, and Secretary Gates’ tenure in both the Bush and Obama administrations.
A Poetry Reading and Reflection
Paul Willis, Professor of English at Westmont
Thursday, April 12, 2012, 5:30 p.m.
University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.
Why is it, after all these years, that poetry still matters? Enjoy a selection of poems written or chosen by Santa Barbara’s current poet laureate and consider the ways in which language alone can heighten, nourish and console. Willis will intersperse his reading with observations on the source and soul of the poems that he loves and the poems that he writes.