Newman University is pleased to offer its Speaker's Bureau to the communities it serves. Speakers consist of Newman faculty and staff and the topics vary widely. The Speaker's Bureau is provided free of charge to non profit organizations. Speakers are available to for-profit organizations for a $100 donation to the Newman Fund, Newman's largest scholarship fund for students.
To find your speaker, search below by category and then zero in on the topic or speaker that interests you, then complete the online form. Once the speaker approves and is booked, you'll work directly with the speaker for the final arrangements.
Health
The Epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes
Description:
This is a one hour presentation intended for the general public that gives an overview of Type 2 Diabetes. Information will include etiology, the growing prevalence of this disease, prevention, symptoms, nutrition, exercise, possible complications, and available management. With the increased rate of obesity, especially childhood obesity, this disease has been making headline news.
About the speaker:
Debbie Strickert is beginning her 20th year as an Associate Professor of Nursing. She is an ARNP and also works PRN at Via Christi Family Medicine Clinics and PRN as a Diabetic Nurse Educator. She teaches medical-surgical nursing in Newman's BSN program and also co-coordinates the RN Refresher course.
History
Alexander the Great in Afghanistan
Description:
The legend of Alexander the Great looms large in history and in the popular imagination. The realities of his campaigns in Asia also tell a story of the harsh realities required for winning a land battle and winning the peace in a region dominated by harsh geography, decentralized political factions and limited resources. What can we learn from the past as we pursue our own aims in Afghanistan?
About the speaker:
Cheryl Golden is a professor of ancient history at Newman University. Completing advanced degrees at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of Houston, her teaching and research interests include Greece, Rome, the ancient Near East in areas related to legal, military and political history. She is currently editing an article on Thucydides' geographic analysis of Thrace and a book on Poisons in the Roman World for Routledge. Working at Newman has allowed Golden to explore a variety of subjects as a generalist, teach abroad in the Netherlands and escort students abroad to England, Italy and Greece.
Tour the Cathedral Kilgen Pipe Organ
Description:
Many people are enjoying tours of the newly renovated and restored Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Wichita but few have experienced the amazing "works" of the Cathedral Kilgen pipe organ in the choir/organ loft. Learn of and experience the sights and sounds of this nearly 3,000 pipe musical treasure of the Cathedral from long-time Cathedral organist, Carole Pracht. (A separate tour of the entire Cathedral may also be arranged.)
About the speaker:
Carole Pracht is a pianist, organist, and teacher. Present positions include Newman University instructor of keyboard studies and choral assistant, principal organist for Wichita Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and accompanist for the Heart of American Men's Chorus. She continues to serve the Kansas and National Music Teachers' Associations and the American Guild of Organists. A regional adjudicator and clinician, Carole's passion for piano and organ is reflected in many students throughout years of teaching who are now organists, pianists, teachers and supporters of music for future generations. Personal music goal: "Excellence in the performance of all musical styles with an added emphasis for excellence in church music."
Women's Work: Poisons and Women in Roman Culture:
Description:
The topic of poison in any society readily brings to mind both accidental and intentional hazards. Household cleaning products and pesticides serve to make our homes safe from some contaminants while creating dangers themselves. The medicine cabinet, containing prescription drugs and other remedies, holds cures, usually safe for the patient, but potentially fatal to others. Outside the household industrial pollution gives us ecological concerns. The city of Rome in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. dealt with many of the same problems. The Roman senate crafted legislation to regulate the sale of hemlock, aconite and opium in the market place and the women who knew how to use these substances. In western literature there is the perception that women who murder do so by stealth or cunning while men murder through force. In the Roman court room and in Roman literature we find examples of women taking advantage of their roles as cooks, healers, mothers, providing food, medicine, and other potions to their unsuspecting "loved ones" only to have their victims fall to feminine foul play. Why?
About the speaker:
Cheryl Golden is a professor of ancient history at Newman University. Completing advanced degrees at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the University of Houston, her teaching and research interests include Greece, Rome, the ancient Near East in areas related to legal, military and political history. She is currently editing an article on Thucydides' geographic analysis of Thrace and a book on Poisons in the Roman World for Routledge. Working at Newman has allowed Golden to explore a variety of subjects as a generalist, teach abroad in the Netherlands and escort students abroad to England, Italy and Greece.
Literature
Adapting History into Dramatic Literature
Description:
The oldest extant play or artifact of dramatic literature is The Persians by Aeschylus, originally produced in 472 BCE. Dramatic literature, a written record of past theatrical events and sub-genre of literature is studied every day all over the world. The Persians is unique in the canon of ancient Greek plays that usually drew their subjects from mythology, for it is a history play. Shakespeare wrote at least 10 history plays, using Holinshed's Chronicles as a major source. Most of Frederick Von Schiller's work could also be classified as history plays. In the 20th century popular plays such as A Lion in Winter and A Man for All Seasons also fit the genre. In turning history into dramatic literature, what choices does the playwright make in deciding how to tell the story? How can their view slant perceptions of the actual events in the telling. How can a playwright turn dry sometimes mundane events into exciting theatre? This lecture will look at the 2500 year old dance between history and theatre in an attempt to inspire new history plays.
About the speaker:
Mark T. Mannette received his MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin College in partnership with the American Shakespeare Center. A member of Actor's Equity since 1998, Mark has acted in over one hundred plays, playing such roles as Leontes in A Winter's Tale and Oscar in The Odd Couple. From 2007-2011 he was a theatre professor at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina. His history play, The Butcher, The Thief, and the Buyer of Beef was produced there in 2008. From 1998-2003 he was the Resident Playwright for the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando. His history play, Dr. Phillips & the Rainmaker was published in 2003. He is also co-founder of the Playwrights Round Table in Orlando and member of the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis.
Drawn to Marvel: Pop-Classicism and Poetry of Comics
Description:
Myth did not end in the Middle Ages; midrash didn't muddle to a close with Medieval Rabbis. The urge to explore what is not, to contain what our brains can't, evolves as culture evolves, making, say, the trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman as worthy of poetic inquiry as any postmortem pantheon. Today's superhero poetry, like the best superhero archetypes themselves, takes one of four tacks to draw us back to marvel. Poems in this genre return wonder to the world by making the mundane super. They return wonder to the world by making the super mundane. They return wonder to modern myths by reviving the superhero, reconnecting the latter to its ancient origins. And finally, they return wonder to the very tradition of the mythic by reconnecting us to the sublime, to the Romantic even, through a "pop" back door.
About the speaker:
Bryan D. Dietrich is the author of six books of poems, Krypton Nights, Universal Monsters, Love Craft, The Assumption, Prime Directive, and The Monstrance. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Poetry, Ploughshares, The Paris Review, Harvard Review, Yale Review, and many other journals. He has won The Paris Review Poetry Prize, a Discovery/The Nation Award, and a Writers at Work Fellowship, Bryan has also been nominated for both the Pushcart and the Pulitzer Prizes.
A Glimpse into a Medieval Manuscript
Description:
This presentation centers on the beautiful seventh-century Lindisfarne Gospels. The history, visual and literary features of the manuscript will be explained through selections from the gospel of John and one or more of the synoptic gospels.
About the speaker:
Susan Crane-Laracuente is an Assistant Professor of English and has taught courses in writing, the structure and history of English, world literature and Latin. She earned a degree in English with a focus on medieval literature in Old English and Latin in 2006 from Stony Brook University in New York. She serves on the editorial board of This Rough Magic, an online academic journal dedicated to the teaching of medieval and renaissance literature.
Riddle Me This: Latin and Old English Riddles
Description:
Many cultures around the world have created riddles to teach and to entertain. Some riddle traditions are traceable through centuries; the ancient Anglo-Saxon riddle tradition is among these. This interactive presentation offers tantalizing examples of Anglo-Saxon riddles originally composed in Latin and Old English.
About the speaker:
Susan Crane-Laracuente is an Assistant Professor of English and has taught courses in writing, the structure and history of English, world literature and Latin. She earned a degree in English with a focus on medieval literature in Old English and Latin in 2006 from Stony Brook University in New York. She serves on the editorial board of This Rough Magic, an online academic journal dedicated to the teaching of medieval and renaissance literature.
Why Shakespeare Wrote His Own Plays
Description:
In reaction to the recent release of the Roland Emmerich's film Anonymous which asserts that the Earl of Oxford, not William Shakespeare, wrote the canon of plays and poems normally attributed to William Shakespeare, Professor Mannette throws down the gauntlet in opposition to that point of view. In this lecture, Mannette demonstrates how Shakespeare as a man of the theatre not only wrote the plays and poems, but evidence corroborating that fact can be found in the writing of his contemporaries and the plays and poems themselves. Some think it impossible that someone without a college education could have written such a body of work and that the plays are written with an insider's view of politics and court intrigue. What about all of the other aspects of life depicted in his work? For those seeking an informed and impassioned rebuttal to the current film or those who wish to defend the Oxfordian claims in debate a format, invite Professor Mannette to speak on the simple subject that Shakespeare was in fact Shakespeare.
About the speaker:
Mark T. Mannette received his MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin College in partnership with the American Shakespeare Center. A member of Actor's Equity since 1998, Mark has acted in over one hundred plays, playing such roles as Leontes in A Winter's Tale and Oscar in The Odd Couple. From 2007-2011 he was a theatre professor at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina. His history play, The Butcher, The Thief, and the Buyer of Beef was produced there in 2008. From 1998-2003 he was the Resident Playwright for the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando. His history play, Dr. Phillips & the Rainmaker was published in 2003. He is also co-founder of the Playwrights Round Table in Orlando and member of the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis.
WWDDWW: What Would Dante Do...With Werewolves?
Description:
The werewolf tale is a Gothic tale, a tale that tells us we need to address the repressed buried within ourselves, lest it be released to consume us. Native American tradition provides us with the names of three different types of werewolf—the Nagual, the Manitou, and the Wendigo—which, while ultimately incarnating the same potentially destructive force, help us define the source of manifestation. The idea of what role the will plays in damnation is central, also, to Dante's design of Hell in The Inferno, and the categories that Dante uses to define the levels of culpability for sin—symbolized as the leopard, the lion, and the she-wolf—can be used to define the parameters of the werewolf archetype and its commentary on humanity, culpability, and the mind.
About the speaker:
Bryan D. Dietrich is the author of six books of poems, Krypton Nights, Universal Monsters, Love Craft, The Assumption, Prime Directive, and The Monstrance. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Poetry, Ploughshares, The Paris Review, Harvard Review, Yale Review, and many other journals. He has won The Paris Review Poetry Prize, a Discovery/The Nation Award, and a Writers at Work Fellowship, Bryan has also been nominated for both the Pushcart and the Pulitzer Prizes.
Marriage and Family
What Science is Telling Us about Healthy Marriages and Families
Description:
Recent large scale studies have provided burgeoning evidence suggesting that there are a few critical elements that are evident in vitalized marriages. Furthermore these elements can be learned and applied with compelling results. Mike Duxler Ph.D. will present preliminary findings of a recently completed nationwide research study that involved 800 Wichita married couples with children. There will be discussion involving how these findings can be applied to families, communities and state policies.
About the speaker:
Mike Duxler, Ph.D., Associate Professor School of Social Work, has most recently directed Catholic Charities' Marriage for Keeps (MfK) research project. MfK was one of 8 sites across the country to implement one of the largest random assignment marriage studies ever conducted. Mike Duxler is a national speaker in the area of strengthening marriages and has been working with local, state and the federal government in helping to shape effective social policy that better supports healthy families. Dr. Duxler has been a faculty member at Newman University since 2002. Prior to coming to Newman he was a clinical practitioner, for 14 years, specializing in marriage and a family researcher at Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital in Dallas, Texas.
Personal Development
How to Get Started Writing your Spiritual Memoir
Description:
This workshop will help you find engaging subjects and experiences to write about. In addition, we will practice some of the techniques associated with vivid personal writing, such as dialogue, description, sensory writing, scene, voice, figurative language, apt word choice, and well-sculpted sentences with good muscle tone. Ultimately, the workshop will set you on the path toward writing with power and vitality, qualities that are welcome in any type of writing. Please allow a minimum of one hour for this presentation, ideal length is two hours.
About the speaker:
Marguerite Regan is Assistant Professor of English at Newman University where she teaches courses in writing, British and World Literatures, and Shakespeare, among others. She received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville in 2001. Recently, she rewrote and edited the book The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami. In addition to the writing of creative nonfiction, her research interests include eighteenth-century literature and the cultural poetics/politics of food, particularly the rise of a dietary protest literature in England from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. She has also published and presented articles on the use of food and food imagery in the works of James Joyce and in the yoga tradition.
"Praise the Lord" in Church Music - A workshop for church organists and pianists
Description:
Serving the Church in music is a challenge of musicianship and knowledge of liturgy! Improve your musicianship, service playing knowledge and skill. Expand your repertoire, and re-inspire your "musician self" in service to your church and worship of God. Presented by Carole Pracht, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception organist.
About the speaker:
Carole Pracht is a pianist, organist, and teacher. Present positions include Newman University instructor of keyboard studies and choral assistant, principal organist for Wichita Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and accompanist for the Heart of American Men's Chorus. She continues to serve the Kansas and National Music Teachers' Associations and the American Guild of Organists. A regional adjudicator and clinician, Carole's passion for piano and organ is reflected in many students throughout years of teaching who are now organists, pianists, teachers and supporters of music for future generations. Personal music goal: "Excellence in the performance of all musical styles with an added emphasis for excellence in church music."
Professional Development & Leadership
Conquering Self: A Key Competency for Effective Leadership
Description:
To lead effectively, you need to know and understand yourself. This means becoming aware of our triggers or hot buttons--things that people say or do that set us off and get in the way of our ability to exercise leadership. We will explore the following questions: What are your triggers? How do you respond when triggered? Am I more or less effective at engaging in acts of leadership when I'm triggered? How can I manage my triggers? This interactive talk will allow you to identify your triggers and then explore ways of managing them.
About the speaker:
Dr. Audrey Curtis Hane is the Dean of Graduate Studies at Newman University, where she is a professor of Communication. Dr. Hane has won several awards, including the E.C. Buehler Outstanding Teaching Fellowship Award from the University of Kansas in 1995 where she earned her Ph.D., and the Newman University Outstanding Mentor Award in 1999. Her expertise and commitment to teaching earned her the 2003 Newman University Teaching Excellence Award, an annual recognition to a full-time faculty member who has demonstrated an innovative or dynamic approach to courses, course revisions, and teaching techniques. In 2004, she was awarded the excellence in academic advising award in response to her work with student advisees. In 2006, the Wichita Business Journal named Dr. Hane to its "40 Under 40" class. In addition to her teaching and research, Dr. Hane has conducted communication training for many clients, including the City of Wichita, Sedgwick County, the State of Kansas, the United Way, Wichita State University and others. She has also served as a communication consultant for Learjet Bombardier Aerospace, the Hunter Health Clinic, Grace Presbyterian Church, the Junior League of Wichita and the Kansas Health Institute. She is a member of the National Communication Association.
Let's Do Lunch
Description:
Come brush up on your business dining etiquette. We'll cover strategies for building relationships with colleagues and clients whether you're gathered around the conference table or the dining table. The following topics will be covered: Practicing business meeting etiquette; Planning a successful business lunch; Dining etiquette for business meals. Professional etiquette will help you gain confidence, differentiate yourself in a competitive market, and honor your organization's commitment to quality and excellence.
About the speaker:
Dr. Audrey Curtis Hane is the Dean of Graduate Studies at Newman University, where she is a professor of Communication. Dr. Hane has won several awards, including the E.C. Buehler Outstanding Teaching Fellowship Award from the University of Kansas in 1995 where she earned her Ph.D., and the Newman University Outstanding Mentor Award in 1999. Her expertise and commitment to teaching earned her the 2003 Newman University Teaching Excellence Award, an annual recognition to a full-time faculty member who has demonstrated an innovative or dynamic approach to courses, course revisions, and teaching techniques. In 2004, she was awarded the excellence in academic advising award in response to her work with student advisees. In 2006, the Wichita Business Journal named Dr. Hane to its "40 Under 40" class. In addition to her teaching and research, Dr. Hane has conducted communication training for many clients, including the City of Wichita, Sedgwick County, the State of Kansas, the United Way, Wichita State University and others. She has also served as a communication consultant for Learjet Bombardier Aerospace, the Hunter Health Clinic, Grace Presbyterian Church, the Junior League of Wichita and the Kansas Health Institute. She is a member of the National Communication Association.
Narratives as Inspiration: Motivating Your Audience to Act
Description:
Have you ever been asked to speak to an audience, only to have the usual questions run through your head: What should I say, and how should I say it? Why does everyone nod their head when I'm speaking, but then nothing happens? They hear the same stuff all the time; what can I say to fire them up? Learn how to capture the power of the narrative in order to move your audience to action. We will examine how to design motivating messages by delivering powerful stories. In particular, you will learn how to tell stories that uplift and motivate by utilizing two proven strategies: the challenge plot and the connection plot.
About the speaker:
Dr. Audrey Curtis Hane is the Dean of Graduate Studies at Newman University, where she is a professor of Communication. Dr. Hane has won several awards, including the E.C. Buehler Outstanding Teaching Fellowship Award from the University of Kansas in 1995 where she earned her Ph.D., and the Newman University Outstanding Mentor Award in 1999. Her expertise and commitment to teaching earned her the 2003 Newman University Teaching Excellence Award, an annual recognition to a full-time faculty member who has demonstrated an innovative or dynamic approach to courses, course revisions, and teaching techniques. In 2004, she was awarded the excellence in academic advising award in response to her work with student advisees. In 2006, the Wichita Business Journal named Dr. Hane to its "40 Under 40" class. In addition to her teaching and research, Dr. Hane has conducted communication training for many clients, including the City of Wichita, Sedgwick County, the State of Kansas, the United Way, Wichita State University and others. She has also served as a communication consultant for Learjet Bombardier Aerospace, the Hunter Health Clinic, Grace Presbyterian Church, the Junior League of Wichita and the Kansas Health Institute. She is a member of the National Communication Association.