Texas Tech Humanities Center to host panel on universities’ role in public good, sharing knowledge

News release provided by Texas Tech Humanities Center -

Texas Tech’s Humanities Center will open its annual themed programming with a public discussion, “Degrees of Value: Past, Present and Future: A Conversation with Retired Texas Tech Faculty,” featuring four emeritus professors. The panel will explore how universities support the public good, create and share knowledge, and nurture ethical leaders.

“Given the seismic social, political and cultural shifts we have seen, it is more important than ever to take stock of the local, national and international impact of Texas Tech in particular, and of the ‘university’ in general,” said Don Lavigne, Humanities Center director.

Moderated by Amy Floweree, associate professor of philosophy, the discussion will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 18, from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library. Drawing on their decades at Texas Tech, the panelists will also reflect on how the university has changed and where it stands today. They are:

• Charlotte Dunham, professor of sociology emerita and former director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
• Ed George, professor of classics emeritus and former president of the Faculty Senate.
• Daniel Nathan, professor of philosophy emeritus and former president of the Faculty Senate.
• Robert Ricketts, professor of accounting emeritus, former Frank M. Burke Chair in Taxation and former director of the School of Accounting.

The event is free and open to faculty, staff, students and the Lubbock community. Audience Q&A and a reception will follow the event. Refreshments will be provided. Attendees should RSVP; in-person attendance will be limited to 75. For those unable to attend in-person, the panel will be broadcast via a livestream.

To RSVP for the in-person or online event, and for more details on future events related to our annual theme, “The Mission and Mystery of the University,” visit the Humanities Center website at https://www.depts.ttu.edu/provost/humanities-center/annual-theme.php.

About the Humanities Center

The Humanities Center fosters world-leading research in the humanities. We facilitate collaboration among the diverse research communities of Texas Tech, the nation, and the globe in pursuit of richer conceptualizations of human cultural production.

As Texas Tech’s hub for humanistic inquiry, the Center presents the full range of critical engagement explored in our research to non-specialists. On campus, we organize intensive pedagogical endeavors under the year’s research theme to instill the analytic tools and critical thinking necessary to succeed at Texas Tech and beyond.

The above information is a news release provided by The Humanities Center