The Honors Program is hosting a conversation between Associate Professor of English Patricia Bart and Professor of Political Economy Gary Wolfram at 11 a.m. today in the formal lounge.
The topic is “Bridging the Town-Gown Divide: A Conversation about Hospitality, Membership, and Community.” It is the second event in the Honors Program’s new series “The Conversation.” At each gathering, the audience sits in on a dialogue between two professors on a topic about education and community. The conversations, open to all of campus, are replacing the forums available exclusively to Honors students.
An idea from the book “Poetic Knowledge” by James Taylor led Richard Gamble, associate professor of history and director of the Honors Program, and junior Christina Lambert, co-president of the Honors Program, to organize the conversations. Taylor writes that mere factual knowledge about a thing is vastly different from the deeper “kind of knowledge that derives from the love of a thing, a person, a place.” The Conversation aims to impart a deeper kind of knowledge by showcasing professors’ loves in a dialogue.
“These professors love these things so well,” Lambert said. “That’s a different kind of knowledge than just giving people facts, and so we can learn through that conversation. It’s in-depth knowledge over surface knowledge.”
Thursday’s first conversation between Gamble and Provost David Whalen was well-attended. Initially, the conversations were to be only every other week, but the positive response may make weekly sessions possible. Many professors have volunteered to participate, giving the series an exciting future.
