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Below are a list of new topics being offered for 2009-2010. Clicking on the speakers name will bring up a complete list of topics offered by that particular speaker. To request that a speaker to come to your organization, please fill out the "Request a Speaker" form.
2008 Elections
Colleen Shogan
Discussion of the impact of the 2008 election and what we might see in 2010.
Aging Well
Patrice Winter
Aging well is not a spectator sport. Be an active participant in your healthy future. We will address the strategies on how to do this with flare. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes you can move freely in.
Contemporary Issues in American Politics
Michael Fauntroy
This lecture examines some of the notable political issues of the day.
Degrees of Efficiency: How Masters Programs in Public Policy and Public Administration Prepare Students to Enhance Government Efficiency Efforts
Bonnie Stabile
Efforts to improve government performance and enhance
government efficiency have taken various forms in recent administrations,
including the Clinton era Government Performance and Results Act, and the
President's Management Agenda of the Bush administration. Facing a 1.3
trillion dollar deficit, President Obama pledged in his inaugural address
that those who manage the public's dollars will be held to account
to spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of
day. Asserting that the question of the day is not whether our
government is too big or too small, but whether it works he promised
that where government fails to meet its objectives, programs will end. Those who manage the public's dollars and do the daily business of government are often graduates of schools of public affairs and public
administration. This talk will focus on the question of just how graduate
programs leading to MPA and MPP degrees are preparing students to take on
the considerable challenge of making government work effectively and
efficiently, both for the purpose of satisfying the bottom line, and to restore
the vital trust between a people and their government.
Digital History
Daniel Cohen
New trends and techniques in using digital media and technology to gather, preserve, and present the past.
Green Information Technology--a 3 Percent Solution
Steve Ruth
Discusses the effect of the green revolution on the IT infrastructure, with specific examples
Hiawatha in history, legend and poetry
Mary McCutcheon
Most of us know about Hiawatha from Longfellow's long poem. But there was a historic Hiawatha as well as Iroquois legends embellishing this person's career. How did Longfellow come to pick Hiawatha for his poem?
Jewish Studies
Randi Rashkover
Judaism and politics, Jewish-Christian, Jewish-Islamic Relations or Women in Judaism.
Multiculturalist Movements and Multilingualism in the Progressive
Lisa Rabin
Will discuss monolingual ideologies on English that arose during the Progressive Era and especially between the two World Wars, and show unique instances in which heritage language activism in social institutions (like the NYC public schools) attempted to transform or resist these ideologies.
Organizational Fairness
David Kravitz
This presentation deals with fairness in the workplace. When employees believe they have been unfairly treated, they react with negative emotions, attitudes, and actions. These negative reactions can damage the organization. Work on organizational behavior has found that people care about fairness of outcomes, procedures, information and interpersonal treatment. These considerations have implications for organizational policies and procedures and for management behavior. Note that the focus is on perceptions of fairness rather than on whether fairness really exists according to some standard. Employee behavior is driven by perceptions, not reality.
President v. Congress: The Constitution and the Growth of Presidential Powers
Mark Rozell
An analysis of the evolution of presidential powers and what Congress can do to check presidents who overreach their authority.
Professional Athletes & Entertainers
Raynard Jackson
Are they role models and what if any is their obligation to the public?
Renewable Energy at Mason and Around the Nation
Robert Ehrlich
Together with an overview of renewable energy, and the
state of college-level education in this field I discuss why many schools
(not including Mason!) have been slow to move into this area, despite
evidence of strong student interest.
Science Test Scores Increase When New Teachers Receive Support
Donna R. Sterling
With a nationwide shortage of science teachers and plummeting student test scores, many school districts are forced to hire teachers with science degrees but little training in education or experience teaching. Without effective support, research shows that 66 percent of new teachers will quit the profession within three years. What can school leaders do to support new science teachers? Researchers at George Mason University’s Center for Restructuring Education in Science and Technology (CREST) found that students enrolled in the classes of teachers who received support performed significantly better on the Virginia Science Standards of Learning tests than students enrolled in the classes of a comparable set of new science teachers who did not receive support.
So What is Intercultural Communication?
Don Boileau
In the current globalization people frequently meet other people from different cultures. This presentation covers some of the basic principles and vocabulary to help us understand why what we said is not what is heard by a person from the other culture.
Socialism
Johanna Bockman
I would discuss socialism in Eastern Europe, as well as global socialist movements, such as that of Yugoslavia. I could also discuss postsocialism and current notions of socialism.
Supporting New Teachers: What School Leaders Can Do
Donna R. Sterling
Nationally, there is a growing shortage of science teachers. As a result, many school districts are forced to hire teachers with science degrees but little training in education or experience teaching. These ill-prepared, new science teachers face the extra challenge of discovering how to teach on their own. Without effective support, research shows that 66 percent of these new teachers will quit the profession within three years. What can school leaders do to support new science teachers?
Telecommuting--does it really work?
Steve Ruth
Discusses the current state of telework, with particular emphasis on the local region
The Basics of Emergency Planning and Preparedness
Adam Thiel
Provides an introduction to the emergency planning and preparedness process.
The Beautiful and the Just: Inquiry, Justice, and Value in Alain Locke and Aristotle
Rose Cherubin
Alain Locke was a 20th-century African American philosopher, Chair of the Philosophy Department at Howard University, and the guiding force behind the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's.
His work in philosophy, politics, education, and arts criticism was guided by the notion of culture as a goal. To see this we must look to his roots in classical Greek philosophy. “Culture,” in Locke’s sense, is an engagement of self-expression and intellect, valuable for its own sake and for the sake of understanding. This recalls Aristotle’s account of theoria (contemplation) and its objects, the kala (beautiful or noble things).
Culture for Locke can transform both lives and social orders. It is not aimed solely at gains within the status quo, and is always self-critical and investigative. Self-expression for Locke requires an interrogation of presuppositions about the world, one’s place in it, and what should be. This reintroduces the question of what a life and a society should be for. Locke’s conception of culture thus addresses deficiencies in current discussions of the relationships between education, democracy, and social justice.
The Queen Bee Syndrome
Karen Bune
Though it is often said that women help women in the workplace, in many cases that becomes a myth when the Queen Bee Syndrome evolves. A pattern of hostile and destructive behavior occurs when supervisor and those in leadership positions become insecure, envious and intimidated by accomplishments and postions of those under them who become targeted victims. As a consequence of their perception--however ill perceived--they employ destructive tactics that victimize those under them and their actions can result in a destructive outcome. Victims of this syndrome frequently suffer from significant emotional distress, develop physical health problems, build up measurable anger, and may even be demoted, forced out of their jobs, or motivated to leave of their own volition. The effectds of this sydrome cause profound victimization that can have lasting consequences and can jeopardize their future career prospects and potential.
Understanding Fire and Emergency Services
Adam Thiel
Provides a basic understanding of the structure, deployment, funding, and mission of local fire and emergency services organizations.
Whys and Hows of Globalizing
Peter Stearns
The United States is routinely and deeply affected by global forces – economic activities, demographic trends and resulting migrations both legal and illegal, military and diplomatic engagements. And while these effects have multiplied in recent decades, amid globalization and the nation’s ascent to sole superpower status, they are not fundamentally new. At various points, international influences have measurably changed the basic course of the United States – in domestic politics and culture as well as foreign policy. Further, one of the main vantagepoints by which to judge American history involves the nation’s impact on the world in turn. How is the world different as the result of the growing exercise of American power?
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