Freshman Convocation
An Evening with Steve Lopez
Wednesday, September 9th
Freshman Convocation
MSU Fieldhouse
7:30pm
For info: http://www.montana.edu/convocation
Lopez, the award-winning Los Angeles Times columnist and author of "The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and The Redemptive Power of Music," will speak at the Montana State University 2009 Freshman Convocation set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, at MSU's Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The event is free and open to the public.
Lopez will discuss the four-year odyssey and friendship with Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a journey that led to his writing of "The Soloist," which in turn inspired a recent motion picture by the same name starring Jamie Foxx as Ayers and Robert Downey, Jr., as Lopez. Incoming MSU freshmen read the book over the summer. The book and related issues of music, homelessness and mental illness will be discussed in MSU classes during the coming semester.
Lopez met Ayers, a homeless musician with schizophrenia who slept on a Los Angeles' skid row street, while he was looking for a topic for an upcoming column. The encounter led to a friendship and a number of columns that resulted in a bestselling book about friendship, second chances, the power of human connections, and the healing power of music and art. The friendship of the two men continues today.
As a salute to the role music plays in the book and Ayers' life, the convocation will also include a performance by MSU cello professor Rebecca Hartka and some of her MSU students. Trained in the classical bass at the prestigious Juilliard School before his career was cut short by mental illness, Ayers also taught himself to play violin, cello and trumpet.
Lopez will sign copies of "The Soloist" following the convocation. The MSU Bookstore will be at the event with books available for purchase. This event is sponsored by MSU, ASMSU, MSU Leadership Institute and One Book One Bozeman.
An Evening with Sharon Daloz Parks
What Time Is It and Where Are We? – Calling Forth A New Kind of Leadership
Thursday, October 8th
MSU Ballroom A
7:00pm
In a time of accelerated change when our most vexing challenges resist routine responses, what is now asked of us? As we lean into the future, Dr. Parkes' lively presentation will inform, challenge, and inspire your sense of calling, purpose, and commitment.
Parks' bold approach to leadership building enables emerging leaders to work actively through the complex demands of today's workplace and build their skills as they discover theory in practice.
Sharon Parks, director of leadership for New Commons, has served in faculty and research positions at the Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Challenging conventional teaching techniques, Sharon Parks, following in the method of Harvard virtuoso Ronald Heifetz and his colleagues, has outlined a new approach toward leadership in her book Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World. Unlike traditional teaching approaches that analyze the experiences of past leaders, case in point uses individuals' own experiences as a crucible for learning, rather than through third-hand readings.
Parks' view of leadership explains that leaders are formed gradually, over time and through deliberate effort - not merely born with special traits. Parks also stresses that true leadership involves helping teams of individuals deal with adaptive challenges and that "presence" rests less on innate personality than upon a style of interacting with others in an organization.
This event is sponsored by Hopa Mountain, ASMSU, MSU Leadership Institute, MSU Local Government Center, MSU Provost Office, United Way, MSU Office of Community Involvement.
An Evening with Nicholas Kristof
Two time Pulitzer Prize-winner and humanitarian to speak at MSU
Monday, October 12th
MSU Strand Union Ballrooms
7:30pm
Considered more than just a two time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times and credited with almost single-handedly bringing the Darfur genocide crisis to the world's attention, Nicholas Kristof will speak at MSU on Monday, October 12 at 7:30 p.m. in MSU's Strand Union Ballrooms.
In an age where internet is threatening the extinction of magazines and newspapers, the importance of in-depth coverage cannot be overstated. Kristof travels on-the-ground, in the center of the action, seeking out individual stories to raise international awareness. In fact, Kristof is the subject of this year's Sundance Film Festival film "The Reporter," which strives to demonstrate why journalists like Kristof are necessary to the survival of our democracy and our ability to promote positive change in the world.
Originally from Yamhill, Oregon, Kristof graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, then went on to study law at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He studied Arabic in Cairo, Chinese in Taipei, lived on four continents, reported on six, and has traveled to more than 140 countries, plus all 50 states, every Chinese province and every main Japanese island.
Kristof is also innovative in his methods of reaching and encouraging young audiences to find a cause they care about. He blogs, twitters, is on Facebook, and has a Youtube channel. In each of his three "Win a Trip with Nick Kristof" competitions, a university student won the opportunity to join Kristof on reporting trips around Africa. Accompanying Kristof is not for the faint of heart, however; past travels have involved an Indonesian mob carrying heads on pikes, African plane crash and Amazon native firing a blow dart at a papaya balanced on Kristof's head.
The upcoming lecture will follow the release of Kristof's new book "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," which details why sex trafficking, gender-based violence and maternal mortality belong on the international agenda. "Kristof brings life to global news by putting faces on statistics that have dulled us to the issues," says Sasha Dingle, MSU Leadership Institute Student Associate. "He inspires me to be courageous, risk beyond a comfortable life, and make a meaningful difference," added Dingle.
The Kristof lecture is sponsored by ASMSU, MSU Leadership Institute, Office of the President, MSU Humanities Institute, Parent Family Association, Bozeman Daily Chronicle and Lori and Scott Lawson. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, September 15 and may be purchased at the Bobcat Ticket Office, local Tickets West locations or at ticketswest.com. Student tickets are $5 and general admission is $8. For more information please call the MSU Leadership Institute at 406-994-7275 or visit www.montana.edu/leadership.
Find Kristof on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/kristof?ref=ts
