Past Presentations
Honoring the Legacy of the Gullah People
12 P.M. | April 12
Discover the heritage and significance of the Gullah People and why the culture should be preserved.
Check out Honoring the Legacy of the Gullah People below or on the USI Liberal Arts Youtube channel!
Cultural Experiences: Traveling and Building Bridges in Eswatini and Bolivia with Engineers in Action
12 P.M. | April 4 | Carter Hall
Presented by Dr. Andrew J. Hill, Associate Professor of Engineering
The USI Engineers in Action chapter was formed in 2019 and has completed four pedestrian bridge projects. These bridges provide isolated communities access to important resources such as markets, schools, and hospitals. Two of these projects involved student and faculty travel in the countries of Eswatini and Bolivia. This presentation will focus on the cultural aspects of living and working in these countries. Several engineering students will participate.
Peace Corps Information Session with USI’s Peace Corps Recruiter, Erica Ward
September 21, 2022 | 11 A.M.
University Center 226-227
Are you inspired to help an overseas community in need? Serving in the Peace Corps is a great way to immerse in a new culture, learn a new language and have the experience of a lifetime! Join us at this information session to learn about various volunteer experiences and the benefits of serving in the Corps. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.
Cartographic Literacy in Support of Social Justice Work:
Learning to Interpret, Question, and Create Maps for Social Change
Dr. Joy Santee, Assistant Professor of English
Maps shape our worldviews and the actions we take as we travel and make decisions about our communities. They help us get from Point A to Point B, but they can also be a powerful and complex form of communication used to shape perspectives on issues ranging from public policy to environmental protection and historical preservation to health. Since digital tools make it possible for nearly anyone to make a map, an ability to interpret, critique, and use them is more important than ever. This presentation will showcase historical maps to help us see how maps shape our worldviews before highlighting humanitarian and social justice projects that use maps to support social justice work. It will also address the ethics of mapping and introduce attendees to free tools they can use to start making their own maps.
The Specter of Colonial Violence:
The Strangler Vine and ‘Thugs’ in America
Dr. Amrita Ghosh, research fellow at the South Asia Research Center, SASNET at Lund University, Sweden
December 2021
Taking a look at Miranda Carter's novel The Strangler Vine (2015) set in 19C India as a colonial adventure narrative. In the first part, it focuses on the novel's critique and rethinking of colonial violence using the metaphor of the 'strangler vines.' Carter revises the idea of violence and criminality of the thugs in 19th C India, but interestingly her novel also intersects with contemporary American political discourse. The novel was published in the year 2015, when the term 'thug' emerged in then President Obama’s speech on the Baltimore riots (April 2015) and then eventually in President Donald Trump’s speech in 2020 to represent race riots in America. In the second part of the paper, I trace the etymology of the "thug" in American lingo and its shifting narrative. This section intersects with Carter's novel to show the limitations and 'problematique' the text poses, and to show how power and discourse are updated in asymmetrical planetary intersections and contexts that have dangerous reverberations in the American political imaginary in our present time. The intersection of these two seemingly unrelated historicity is important to reveal the structures of embedded (neo)colonial violence that turns “thugs” in a larger continuum, symbolizing Black men and ultimately emerging a fear of black bodies.
Education Abroad in the Age of COVID-19:
What changed and what remains the same?
Melissa Gonnerman, Associate Director of the Center for International Programs
October 2021
Using Machine Learning to Describe Predictors of Nutritional and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes for Two-Year Old Bangladeshi Children
Dr. Heather Cook, Assistant Professor of Statistics
November 2020
Taking Your Skills and Education Global: What are my options? What are the benefits?
Ms. Andrea Tiller, Peace Corps Field Based Recruiter: Indiana
November 2020
Life and Science at McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Dr. Jenna Kloosterman, Assistant Professor of Engineering
October 2020
Stars. Planets. Life. Where do they all come from? In 2011-2012 and again in 2015-2016, Kloosterman traveled to Antarctica with an international team of scientists to try to answer these questions. The team built and launched a balloon borne telescope designed to look at the atomic building blocks of the star formation process—carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Experience the journey to McMurdo Station, what life is like there, and what is like to work on the launch of a scientific long-duration balloon.
Health and Healthcare in Kenya
Dr. Jeri Burger, Associate Professor in Nursing
October 2020
Dr. Jeri Burger traveled to Kenya in March 2020 and the trip provided opportunities to meet healthcare providers and tour some healthcare facilities. Through travel experiences and interaction with people in varied settings in Nairobi and rural areas, she learned about factors and conditions that influence health.