Thursday Forum Presentations

September 7, 2017
Betsy Johnson-Miller
GDCC Pres. Dining Room (Gorecki 201) at St. Ben's
4:15-5:15pm
The Meditation on (and the Making of) Art

Art that inspires more art—what could be better than that? This Thursday Forum will discuss how I used visio divina (or meditating on art) in order to inspire my writing. I will report on my travels to several museums where I meditated on works by Rothko and Chagall and share some of the writing these experiences produced. In addition, the audience will be invited to engage in their own meditation on and making of art.

September 14, 2017
Tom Kirkman
Alcuin LC178 at St. John's
4:15-5:15pm
Text Analytics in R: is Donald Different?
R is a widely-used, professional, comprehensive, free statistical program. Students and faculty interested in non-trivial statistical calculations should be familiar with this program. In astronomy it has been used to tackle a galaxy of largely numerical statistical problems. (E.g.: Modern Statistical Methods for Astronomy: With R Applications by Feigelson & Babu.) In the legitimate press it has been used to comment on subjects from politics to sports. (E.g., see the fivethirtyeight R Package
https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/fivethirtyeight/vignettes/fivethirtyeight.html.)

As an introduction to R, I will attempt a statistical answer to the question: "Is Donald (Trump) Different (from other presidents)?" Fivethirtyeight has used R to analyze Donald Trump's tweets; here we will use text analytics to see what we can learn from the words used in State of the Union addresses.
Alcuin LC178 at SJU

September 21, 2017
Hannah Salto
Gorecki 120 at St. Ben's
4:15-5:15pm
First-Generation Bennies and Johnnies: Who they are, what they need, how CSB/SJU is supporting them, and what you can do in your position

In the fall of 2016, CSB hired Hannah Salto (December ’16 Grad) as the College Navigator to begin work in the spring semester of 2017. The College Navigator position focuses on providing support for first-generation students, locating and connecting already existing support on campus for these students, and helping the incoming class of first-generation Bennies and Johnnies successfully transition into the college environment and culture. This presentation will cover statistical information and data about first-generation students at CSB/SJU gathered from the registrars office, surveys, and focus groups. It will also cover the work of the College Navigator up until this point and tips on how you can support these students in the position you hold in our community. Come learn who CSB and SJU's first-generation students are, what they need, the work of the College Navigator on campus, and what you can do in your position to help support these students.

September 28, 2017
Matt Cobb
Little Theatre (Quad 346) at St. John's
4:15-5:15pm
Presence Matters: Performing Arts at Nonviolent Activism

A highly interactive two act street play with three scenes in each act. As performed on the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. Intermission will provide a partial debriefing to understand better and learn from each other during the play itself. The content of this short play can take up any issue or situation and through awareness-based systematic interpretation we can rise strong in each moment where nonviolence is necessary. By listening to both internal and external messaging systems we can actually stay current, tune in and be more attentive to each moment as it arises and passes. Come to this forum to be more involved and fare forward as nonviolent activists in your current situation or family, household, campus, workplace, field of play, legislature, court, church, synagogue, mosque, temple et al.

October 5, 2017
Riley Leonard
Little Theatre (Quad 346) at SJU
4:15-5:15pm
How are new technologies being used to study children’s heart disease?

The World Health Organization lists heart disease as the leading cause of death globally, representing 31% of deaths, translating to an estimated 17.7 million lives lost. A common heart disease that can lead to sudden death is arrhythmia, which can be recognized as irregular beating of the heart. When this occurs in the upper chambers it is a specific type of arrhythmia called AF. We are interested in this disease as it can lead to stroke and other heart related complications, including death. AF remains poorly characterized, and genetics are speculated to play a large role in causing this disease. One possible regulator of AF genetics is a class of proteins called nucleoporins (NUP). These proteins make up a structure called the nuclear pore complex (NPC) within the nucleus of the cell. NPCs are a passageway between the nucleus and cytoplasm that controls bidirectional exchange of proteins, RNA, and other macromolecules. NPCs also regulate gene expression and signal transduction. Different studies have shown clinical associations between NUPs and cardiac diseases. For example, a mutation in NUP155 has been linked to incidences of AF and sudden heart failure in the children of a South American family. We seek to understand how NUP155 mutation leads to AF, and will use animal stem cell models together with genome editing and bioinformatics to explore the potential mechanisms that lead to this serious cardiac disease.

October 12, 2017
Lori Klapperich, Jody Terhaar, Mike Ewing
GDCC Pres. Dining Room (Gorecki 201) at St. Ben's
4:15-5:15pm
CSB/SJU Sexual Violence Campus Climate Survey Results

The CSB/SJU Sexual Violence Campus Climate Survey was conducted during Spring 2017. The presenters will summarize the results of the survey and facilitate discussion of the next steps in the ongoing work of preventing sexual violence.

October 26. 2017
Claire Haeg
Little Theatre (Quad 346) at St. John's
4:15-5:15pm
Civic Engagement in the Trump Era: Increasing Political Understanding through the Washington DC Internship Program

November 2, 2017
Sean Dooley & Amanda Jantzer
GDCC Pres. Dining Room (Gorecki 201) at St. Ben's
4:15-5:15pm
What We Share: Storytelling in Psychology and Theater

November 16, 2017
Maria Frie & Stanton Charlton
Little Theatre at SJU
4:15-5:15pm
Working One-on-One with Students who have Learning Differences

November 30, 2017
Emily Heying
Ardolf 142 at St. Ben's
4:15-5:15pm
Impact of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)  Membership on Dietary Habits and Food Waste in Central Minnesota CSA Programs