Symposium Events
FALL 2024 / SPRING 2025:
Jennifer Prough, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor of Humanities and East Asian Studies, Christ College, Valparaiso University
Mueller Hall Refectory, 5:30 – 6:15 p.m.
Dean’s Annual Address –
“The Value of Curiosity”
Dean Jennifer Prough’s Annual Address to the CC Community.
Got Stress? Try Mindfulness
Stress is a natural response to life; we need it to get stuff done. But add homework, deadlines, and high expectations to climate crisis, political polarization, and the need for justice and healing … and stress quickly floods and overwhelms our systems. Mindfulness practice can help. Learn how to work with your thoughts and pay attention to your breath in this 30-minute session. Leave with resources to continue exploring mindfulness. Your nervous system will thank you for it.
Register for your preferred session via the links below:
Wednesday, September 4, 10:05-10:35 a.m. Central – limit 25 registrants
Wednesday, September 4, 8-8:30 p.m. Central – limit 25 registrants
Please register by September 3. Should this event hit capacity, please join the waitlist by emailing christ.college@valpo.edu and specifying which time you’d like to attend. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link to join your session.
Note: If you don’t see the email after 10 minutes or so, check Updates, Promotions, Spam, or any other categorical folders you may use in your inbox.
Stephanie Slade
Senior Editor at Reason Magazine
Mueller Hall Refectory, 4:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, September 10, Stephanie Slade will deliver a lecture on “The Role of Religion in the American ‘New Right’” to illuminate the interplay between right-wing politicians, religious leaders, and the political objectives of religious communities.
Stephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason magazine, where she covers the intersection of religion and politics, and a fellow in liberal studies at the Acton Institute. In 2016, she was selected to the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. In 2013, she was named a finalist for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. Her writing has also appeared in America magazine, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and elsewhere. She’s working on a book about fusionism—which probably isn’t what you think!
In November, Americans will participate in one of the most contested events in our national history – the presidential election. Heated debates on reproductive rights, racism, immigration, foreign policy, the role of religion in public spaces, and educational curriculum reveal an ominous polarization threaded throughout society. Conservatives complain of leftist wokeism and the agenda of a deep state, while liberals sound an alarm on right-wing nationalism and religious favoritism. Religion continues to play an important role in communicating with voters. A moderated Q and A session will follow the lecture.
Thomas Albert (Tal) Howard, Ph.D.
Professor of Humanities and Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics
Mueller Hall Refectory, 4:00 p.m.
Duesenberg Ethics Chair Lecture: “Wisdom: One or Many?”
Over the centuries, wisdom has served as a master concept in Christian learning, invoked once again in one of Valparaiso University’s new taglines: “grounded in wisdom.” But what exactly is wisdom? Is it a disposition of mind, an abstract idea, a philosophical ideal, a virtue, a character trait, or what? Can the recovery of a robust vocabulary about wisdom breathe new life into the challenged enterprise of church-related higher education?
Join Thomas Albert Howard, Ph.D., professor of humanities and history and the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair of Christian Ethics, for this lecture.
Red, Blue, Purple: Mindfulness Practices for Polarized Times
Friday, October 18, 2024 – 2:30-4 p.m. Central via Zoom
Do you feel particularly activated this election year? Do fear and worry lurk beneath your excitement? Every day, the media offers up more evidence of danger and division to our already stressed out nervous systems. It is possible to shift away from the habit of catastrophizing and live with more freedom. Join me in this 90-minute session to explore mindfulness practices that can support you in broadening your view and cultivating compassion without forsaking your values.
Register via this link. Limited to 20 registrants.
Please register by October 11. Should this event hit capacity, please join the waitlist by emailing christ.college@valpo.edu. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link to join your session.
Note: If you don’t see the email after 10 minutes or so, check Updates, Promotions, Spam, or any other categorical folders you may use in your inbox.