Phi Theta Kappa Announces 2009 Honors Seminar Series
Phi Theta Kappa's 2009 Honors Seminar Series will feature lectures by consumer
advocate Ralph Nader, PBS journalist Ray Suarez, and microfinancier Jessica
Jackley.
The Honors Seminars consist of a series of three lectures
by outstanding speakers, all experts in their fields, addressing an interdisciplinary
aspect of the 2008-2010 Honors Study Topic, The Paradox of Affluence:
Choices, Challenges, and Consequences.
Ralph Nader is
an internationally known consumer advocate who is largely responsible
for the creation of laws, regulatory agencies and national standards that
have improved the quality of life for generations of Americans.
In
recent years Nader has been an independent candidate for President, pledging
to work for the public interest by returning government to the citizens.
Ray
Suarez is a Washington-based senior correspondent for PBS' The NewsHour.
A longtime member of the Washington press corps, he is known for his expertise
on quintessentially American issues affected by the paradox of affluence,
including politics, demographics, race, and religion. He is the former
host of NPR's Talk of the Nation.
He is author of The
Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999
and The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America.
Jessica
Jackley is co-founder of Kiva.org, a website that allows users
to make loans directly to specific entrepreneurs in the developing world.
Recipients use the loans to develop their small businesses and improve
the economic situations for themselves and others. Loans can be as small
as $25.
Jackley has worked with microfinance and social entrepreneurship
programs in more than 30 countries.
"In a climate of budget cuts
and rising transportation costs, the Honors Seminar Series provides an
affordable way for community colleges to bring three internationally-known
speakers to their campuses," said Phi Theta Kappa's Executive Director
Rod A. Risley. "In addition, the Seminar Series can serve as a basis for a
college honors program or course, an effective recruiting tool, and a way
to stimulate interaction with members of the community."
"Honors
Seminar broadcasts are a wonderful way for faculty in many different disciplines
to bring visual elements into their classes. The DVDs and web downloads
available to subscribing colleges can be used in a variety of traditional,
hybrid, and online classes as well as for campus presentations and discussions
beyond the classroom," said Susan Edwards, Phi Theta Kappa's Dean of Academic
Affairs and Honors Programs.
Since 2001, Phi Theta Kappa chapters
and community colleges have used the Honors Seminar Series as an honors
programming resource and an opportunity to raise awareness about the Society
and the host colleges. Some Honors Seminar "Best Practices" include inviting
high school honors students to attend, as a recruitment opportunity for
the college; involving community leaders as moderators for post-seminar
discussions; and asking college faculty to give extra credit to their classes
for attending.
The complete Honors Seminar Series will be available
on DVD and via online video downloads no later than October - earlier than
ever before. Subscription cost for entire series is $475. C-band and ku-band
live satellite feeds have been discontinued. Advance questions may be
submitted via email. Colleges may subscribe online at the Honors Seminar
Series website.
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi,
is the largest honor society in higher education with 1,250 chapters on
college campuses in all 50 of the United States, Canada, Germany, the Republic
of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of
Micronesia, the British Virgin Islands, the United Arab Emirates and U.S.
territorial possessions. More than two million students have been inducted
since its founding in 1918, with approximately 100,000 students inducted
annually.
