Collin College’s “Cultivating Scholars Speaker Series” agenda announced

Teach, teach - talk, talk.

by John P. Meyer

In a variation of Chairman Mao's "fight, fight - talk, talk" strategy (this version substituting "teach" for the "fight" component), Collin College event planners have lined up yet another agenda of speechifying, this time focusing on psychology and sociology in what they're calling their "Cultivating Scholars Speaker Series."

There are four talks scheduled for this series, one each on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13, followed by another pair of presentations on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26. All talks will take place at the Spring Creek Campus' Conference Center (2800 E. Spring Creek Parkway in Plano).

The first program, to be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, brings together the tag team lecturing talents of Dr. Wade Pickren (associate chair of the Dept. of Psychology at Ryerson U.) and Dr. Alexandra Rutherford (associate prof. of psychology at York U.). Dr. Pickren approaches the podium first to deliver his "How the History of Psychology Can Help Us Understand Social Justice: Psychologists and Interracial Housing in New York City, 1945-1955" opus, to be followed by Dr. Rutherford's less lengthily-titled presentation, "From Pigeons to People: Inside the Human Skinner Box.” Now we're talking.

The next day (Sept. 13) from 10 - 11:15 a.m., Dr. Pickren holds forth with another of his "I refuse to truncate my titles" presentations, "“Making a More Inclusive Psychology: A DVD Documentary History of the Struggle to Make the APA Inclusive of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in Psychology,” followed once again by Dr. Rutherford's "less is more" oneupmanship in the form of her "Changing the Face of Psychology: Feminism’s Past and Presence,” which is also on DVD. Both scholars will use selections from their DVDs to illustrate the history of how psychology has gradually become more inclusive of women and minority populations.

On Oct. 25, Texas A&M psychology professor Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. will present his "William James and the Temple of Doom: Joy and Intrigue in Archival Research” - which sounds on the face of it like a lost Indiana Jones urtext, but which actually documents the process of archival research by examining the letters and manuscripts of noted psychologists. But he should still wear a fedora into the lecture room, if he has any semblance of a sense of humor.

Dr. Benjamin carries on the next day (Oct. 26) from 11 a.m. - noon on the topic of "The Public’s Psychology: A History of the Popular Psychology Magazines in America.” A complex subject. (Get it?)

For further information on this latest round of lecture attendance opportunities, don't hesitate to call the friendly folks at the Social and Behavioral Sciences division at 972-881-5800.