Upcoming Event: "The Age of Stupid"

Title: The Age of Stupid
Date/Time: Tuesday, November 1, 7:00pm
Location: Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium
Format: Film screening followed by panel discussion

The Age of Stupid stars Pete Postlethwaite as a man living in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage and asking: why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?

A panel discussion will follow the screening.

For a recent article about indifference toward climate change, read this article from the New York Times.

Watch Katherine Attanasi's Talk

Did you miss Katherine Attanasi's talk "South African Pentecostalism and the Gendered Politics of HIV Prevention", or would you like to watch it again?  Click here to view a recording of the event.

Peace is Possible: Shifting from War Making to War Prevention

Did you miss Bridget Moix’s presentation ‘Peace is Possible: Shifting from War Making to War Prevention’?  View the presentation now.  Learn more about Bridget and the Friends Committee on National Legislation here.  

Moix discussed the process of implementing peace on a global level.  She believes it is possible for peace to be the first option in a conflict situation, rather than having nations immediately default to a state of conflict.  Peace becomes a viable option when it is encouraged through specific peaceful tactics.  The military tools in our diplomatic tool box are over developed, and we have only recently begun to develop the peace making tools.  

Strategies to support peace making over war preparation will lead to a more secure global environment that reinforces human rights and offers security to all.  Peaceful prevention is a fairly recent movement, but one that will be essential as the global climate continues to change and global resources become more limited.  Moix encouraged attendees to take action!

Moix leads the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program and has worked for over twelve years on peace and conflict issues within the U.S. and international policy arenas. She began her career with FCNL as an intern in 1996 and worked as a Legislative Secretary from 2002-2006. She returned to FCNL in September 2008.

Previously she worked with Oxfam America as a policy adviser on Sudan (2005), the Quaker United Nations Office in New York under a New Voices fellowship (2000-2002), the World Policy Institute’s Arms Trade Resource Center (1998-2000), the Quaker Peace Center in Cape Town, South Africa (1999), and as an intern with the American Friends Service Committee during college. She returned to Washington, DC after spending over two years in Mexico City where she directed the Casa de los Amigos, a small Quaker peace and hospitality center.

Moix holds a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, where she focused her studies on human security and international conflict resolution. She received her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Nonfiction Writing from Ohio Wesleyan in 1996.

If you have any questions about this presentation or how you can become involved in lobbying for a cause, please visit the Ashland Center for Nonviolence in Bixler Hall 116 on the Ashland University main campus or email us acn@ashland.edu for more information.

Upcoming Event: "South African Pentecostalism and the Gendered Politics of HIV Prevention"

Title: South African Pentecostalism and the Gendered Politics of HIV Prevention
Date/Time: October, 24th, 2011 (7:00 pm)
Location: Dauch 115

What should a woman do if her husband is unfaithful and yet her church says not to use condoms and not to get a divorce?

The Religion Department as part of the CAS Symposium Against Global Indifference presents a public illustrated lecture by Dr. Katy Attanasi. Pentecostalism is the fastest growing form of Christianity in developing countries. Paralleling Pentecostalism's growth has been the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Attanasi conducted fieldwork in two communities in post-apartheid South Africa.  Drawing on her fieldwork, she employs feminist methodologies to examine the responses of black South African Pentecostal women to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She found their complex situations to be based on distorted theologies of gender, prosperity, and healing. She suggests a prevention strategy that coheres with Pentecostal theology and better accounts for women's situations. She argues that listening to the voices of women in the global South provides important perspective to western development agencies and denominations.

Katy Attanasi is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Regent University (PhD. Vanderbilt University). She recently completed work on a co-edited volume with Amos Yong entitled Pentecostalism and Prosperity: The Socio-economics of the Global Charismatic Movement (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, forthcoming).

Upcoming Event: "Globalization: Who Benefits? Who Suffers?"

Title: Globalization: Who Benefits? Who Suffers?
Format: 1.5 hour Panel with Question & Answer session
Date/Time: October, 11th, 2011 (7-8:30 pm)
Location: Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium


Panel Focus: A variety of perspectives regarding the implications of globalization will be presented (e.g., Think Globally/Act Locally and The World is Flat). Local experts will weigh in on the costs/benefits of globalization on America as new technologies, international trade, and global markets have become more entwined and interdependent.

Globalization has brought with it a variety of impacts, both locally and internationally. Much debate remains about whether or not globalization has been beneficial for individuals, communities, corporations, or countries. Proponents of globalization suggest that it has reduced poverty, increased competition, assisted in the rise of foreign investment levels, and even reduced child labor world-wide. Opponents cite the contribution to brain drains in various countries, lost jobs and job insecurity at home, increased pollution and environmental hazards, and even terrorism.

Come hear what our panel of experts has to say and ask any questions you have been pondering about this topic.

Panelists:

1) David Civitollo, Ohio State University Extension David is an educator in the area of community development for OSU Extension in Medina County. David has expertise in the areas of community and economic development. He is also the lead for a local effort to produce and buy local farm produce. David will discuss the importance of thinking globally but acting locally by sharing real-life examples of the impact of globalization on issues affecting Ohio citizens.

2) Dr. Khushwant Pittenger, Professor & COBE Internship Coordinator
Dr. Khushwant Pittenger, Professor of Business Management and Interim Dean of the Dauch College of Business and Economics at Ashland University, joined Ashland University in 1987. She earned her B.A. (honors) and Post Graduate Diploma in International Trade from Punjab University, India; MBA (Management) from Miami University, and Ph.D. in Business Administration from University of Cincinnati. She has served on numerous committees and consulted with area companies on issues related to management.  She has presented over two dozen papers at regional, national and international conferences and has published articles in refereed journals and local newspapers.  In 2008-2009, her case on leadership sold over 1,100 copies internationally.

 3) Brad Whitehead, President, Fund for Our Economic Future
The fund is a philanthropic collaboration of over 40 partners in the NE region who have all donated over $100K+ to enhance the economic success of NE Ohio. The Fund engages the public and leaders from the private, civic, labor, education, government and other sectors to strengthen the region's capacity to build a strong regional culture and to support and implement the key economic growth strategies of Advance Northeast Ohio, the region's economic action plan. Ventures you may have heard about include Team NEO, JumpStart, BioEnterprise, and NorTech. Brad Whitehead oversees the Fund’s grantmaking, research and civic engagement efforts. He was named the Fund’s first president in the fall of 2006. He served the Fund while also working for The Cleveland Foundation (where his focus was economic development/ globalization). In July 2007, he assumed full-time responsibilities with the Fund. Before joining the Foundation, Brad was a Director at the international management consulting firm of McKinsey and Company. At McKinsey, Brad’s client work spanned a broad range of corporate strategy, operations, and organizational issues, but his major area of focus was in growth and new business building. Brad was one of the Firm leaders of the Business Building Practice and prior to that he was a founder of the Firm’s Environment Practice.