Geneva College welcomes Rutha Harris, John Taylor Gatto and Jeanne Schindeler for its spring 2010 Colloquia Series beginning in January. All lectures are free and open to the public.
The Colloquia Series has been designed as a forum in which the Geneva College community and local residents may engage in academic discussion and debate. Fostering compelling and provocative discussion on socio-cultural, scientific, religious, literary, political, economic and educational issues, the series attempts to drive at the heart of many of the ideas and practices that shape our lives and the world in which we live.
Civil rights activist and musician Rutha Harris was still a student when she put her powerful voice to work for freedom. She was an original member of the Freedom Singers, a group that traveled all over the continental U.S. spreading stories of the civil rights movement through song. She made her voice heard at universities, jails, political meetings and marches and was jailed three times for a total of 14 days. In 1995, she formed and organized a new group of singers in Albany, Georgia. They now perform for the Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum. Rutha Harris and the Sons of Thunder will speak on Monday, January 18 at 7 p.m. in Skye Lounge.
A longtime teacher and a native of western Pennsylvania, John Taylor Gatto was selected as New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. Gatto is a strong advocate of school reform, having traveled internationally to raise awareness about the shortcomings of the American compulsory education system. Gatto served with U.S. Army medical corp, and has done work Cornell University, Columbia University, Hunter College and the University of Pittsburgh, among others. He is the author of numerous books, including Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling; A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling; The Underground History of American Education; and Against School. Gatto will speak in Skye Lounge in Geneva’s student center on Thursday, February 18 at 7 p.m. and Friday, February 19 at 10:10 a.m.
The author of Christianity and Civil Society: Catholic and Neo-Calvinist Perspectives, Dr. Jeanne Heffernan Schindler teaches at Villanova University in the Humanities department and School of Law. She previously taught at Pepperdine University. Her areas of research and publication include Catholic social thought, democratic theory, virtue ethics, and faith and learning. Schindler received her B.A. in History from Georgetown University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame. Schindler will speak in Skye Lounge on Monday, March 1 at 10:10 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College’s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).
Geneva graduates pass the test for teacher certification in elementary education (Praxis II) at over a 99% rate in the first attempt–one of the highest pass rates in Pennsylvania.
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