The Humanities District

Happy December, everybody! In this episode we get a visit from the Dean. Dr. Wahl and I discuss building projects happening on campus at Missouri State University. We talk about new academic programs, the phases of the academic realignment, AI, the new digital humanities lab, and much more.

Shawn enjoys books about motivation and leadership. In the conversation, he shares an example of book that has inspired him. The title of that book is Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, by Bolman and Deal.

Shannon Cay is a visual journalist with The Daily Citizen. We talk about the making of her recent short documentary "Beyond the Veil: Exploring the psychic community in Springfield." We also discuss the Daily Citizen, how Shannon got her start in journalism, and much more. Thanks for listening.

Dr. Suzanne E. Walker-Pacheco is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology at Missouri State University. She stopped by the Humanities District to share the inside story of Paws to the Polls, a nonpartisan voter participation and voter literacy

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You can find the voter info guides we discussed as well as the videos we discussed here:

https://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/PTTP/default.htm

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Thanks for listening! If youre listening to this conversation your web browser, please help me out by subscribing to the podcast for free on a podcast app such as Spotify, and tell a friend about the show. You can also reach me at [email protected]

**Interested in the Humanities District Fall Book Club? Click here!**

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My guest this month is Andrew Crocker, an Instructor of Political Science at Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) and the co-advisor for a student organization called Politically Active, a nonpartisan student-run group focused on improving the political literacy of Ozarks Tech students.

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Andrew also co-hosts a podcast about OTC called Oh That's Cool.

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The Humanities District is Springfield-based podcast hosted by me, Jay Howard. I talk to leaders in the arts, social sciences and humanities about their work in the community.

**Check out the Humanities District Book Club!** > The Last Human Job by Allison Pugh

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My guest today is Dr. Leslie Baynes, Associate Professor in the department of languages cultures and religions at MSU. She teaches many classes on topics in Religious Studies including a class on apocalyptic literature and a class on C. S. Lewis, both of which I took in 2007.

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Leslie is the author of the forthcoming book, "Incarnation and Imagination: C. S. Lewis and the Bible." She has visited the museum that holds Lewis's wardrobe, the library that holds many of his personal letters, the pub where the Inklings met, and even Lewis's house, the Kilns.

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We talk about all things Lewis, including Leslie's recent participation in the inaugural cohort of the Inklings Project.

Today's guest is Gemma Campanini, poetry event facilitator extraordinaire.

If you've ever felt like poetry made more sense out loud and in person than it did on the page, you're in good company with Gemma. We talk about many of Gemma's poetic and literary endeavors, past, present, and future, including but not limited to: Oh Snap poetry, poetry slams, poetry for personal healing, the Bards of Moon City, the Ozarks Literacy Council, the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, as well as Gemma's newest project, "Reignite - burn through barriers with free verse poetry," upcoming this fall.

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Today's guest is Dr. Jonathan Groves, Professor of Communication and Department Chair of Communication at Drury University.

In today's conversation we talk about Jonathan's class, "Communication and Civic Engagement."

We talk about the Community Focus Report, which Jonathan has facilitated since 2016.

And we talk about KDRU, Springfield's community radio, live from Drury University.

The Humanities District is a podcast about creativity and community. Host Jay Howard talks to academics and alumni in Springfield Missouri about their work.

Got an idea for the podcast? Drop me a line at [email protected].

What is a pedagogy of truth?

Read a transcript of this episode on Substack here.

Heather Walters is a senior instructor of Communication. Today we talk about two of her books: Understanding Argumentation in a Post-Truth World, and Communication Ethics: Promoting Truth, Responsibility, and Civil Discourse in a Polarized Age.

Stop the presses! A conversation with professor Mike Czyzniejewski.

Read a transcript of this episode on Substack here.

Our topic today: The ongoing plagiarism scandal that hit literary magazines around the country. To learn more, I spoke with Professor Mike Czyzniejewski, editor of Moon City Review, Missouri State’s literary journal. Mike is a returning champion on the podcast: We spoke about Moon City Review back in March 2022.

Mike teaches a Small Press Production class which focuses on Moon City Review. This scandal has furnished endless discussion starters in his class of late. “It gives us this huge topic to talk about,” said Mike. “And then we had a lot of followups. I've given kind of a daily update about this as the stories evolved.”