News, Research, Calls for Papers and Events from the University of Missouri’s Center on Religion & the Professions (CORP)
May 18, 2009
Greetings! This will be our last edition of the newsletter before it takes a summer hiatus, but read on for current news and upcoming events, plus previews of some events coming up this summer and in early fall 2009. For additional news and events while we’re away, check the CORP Web site at www.religionandprofessions.org. Have a great summer!
CO-SPONSORED EVENTS
Aug. 22 Workshop: The Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment (TREE) program workshop trains religious groups about addressing teen relationship violence. TREE was founded with a Missouri Foundation for Health grant to a coalition of local churches, community health professionals and MU. CORP created the project team that became TREE and is an active partner in the project, providing administrative and other expertise. Groups interested in building a TREE team should contact Kim Ryan at (573) 489-2729 or kkgryan@juno.com or Kendra Yoder at klyd29@mizzou.edu.
Aug. 28-Dec. 24 Exhibition: “The Sacred Feminine: Prehistory to Post-Modernity” presents art from the Mediterranean, western Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia exploring roles women have played in religion reflected in visual culture from antiquity to present. Keynote speaker: Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, professor of religious art and cultural history at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. Hosted by the MU Museum of Art and Archaeology with co-sponsorship from CORP and other campus organizations. Opens Aug. 28 with a Museum Associates Reception at 5:30 p.m. and an exhibition preview at 6:30 p.m. Runs Aug. 29-Dec. 24, 2009, Pickard Hall. For more information, see http://maa.missouri.edu.
CORP NEWS
Packed Turnout: Former Los Angeles Times reporter William Lobdell addressed a packed house April 7 during his appearance at the Reynolds Journalism Institute. Lobdell, author of “Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America – and Found Unexpected Peace,” spoke to more than 100 people with standing room only in the Fred W. Smith Auditorium in the Missouri School of Journalism. The lecture was covered by the Columbia Missourian. CORP sponsored the event.
Multiple Audiences: Nearly 600 people came to hear Christopher Hedges speak at MU on Feb. 17. Hedges spoke in a public lecture on “The Looming Collapse of the American Empire,” to classes and at the Noel P. Gist Luncheon Seminar on International Affairs at the Missouri School of Journalism. His lecture was covered by The Maneater. The visit was sponsored by the MU Peace Studies Program with CORP and the College of Arts and Science.
New Course: Enrollment is open for a new course, “Religious Literacy for the Public and Professions” (Religious Studies 3100) that will be taught online in Summer 2009 through MU Extension’s Center for Distance and Independent Learning. The course provides practical knowledge about religion as it is encountered in the professional world in a pluralistic society. It was developed by CORP with the MU Department of Religious Studies. After the course is implemented and assessed, a CORP team will author a chapter for a monograph about the project that will be distributed nationally through the Institute on Religion in Curriculum and Culture of Higher Education. For information, call 882-9257 or e-mail justin.arft@gmail.com.
TREE Updates: The Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment (TREE) program had several successful events in its first four months, including a Feb. 22 training workshop with 10 churches represented, drama performances and more. A faith-based initiative against teen relationship violence, TREE was founded with a Missouri Foundation for Health grant to a coalition of local churches, community health professionals and MU. Columbia’s Broadway Christian Church submitted the grant, with assistance from CORP, which provides project development, outreach and administrative support. The program has been covered by KBIA and the Columbia Missourian.
Call for Participants: CORP is forming new project teams for the upcoming academic year, to join existing teams. If you’re interested in training or research related to expanding professionals’ understanding of faith and spirituality in the lives of those they serve, please contact Debra L. Mason at MasonDL@Missouri.edu. The 2009-2010 academic year’s work will focus on professional development tools and training.
New Films: CORP has added several new films to its free lending library, including “For the Bible Tells Me So,” “Fireproof,” “Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth,” “A Course in Miracles,” and films from its “Spirituality & Health” films series.
Speaking Engagements: CORP Director Debra L. Mason addressed an audience of about 60 at a Columbia Kiwanis club event April 28. She will speak to the Fulton Kiwanis Club on June 11, both on the topic of the Center, religious literacy and the professions.
Making “The Office” Rounds: Dr. Brick Johnstone , professor of health psychology and head of CORP’s Spirituality and Health research team, spoke April 27 on “Spirituality and Health” at the Columbia Regional Hospital Bioethics Grand Rounds in Columbia. He also is scheduled to be interviewed in June by Emmy-nominated “The Office” actor Rainn Wilson for a segment on Wilson’s Web site, www.soulpancake.com, which discusses “life’s big questions.”
Religion & Race Series: Students in the Religion Reporting & Writing course (JOUR 4426/7426) taught by CORP Director Debra L. Mason will contribute stories to an upcoming series exploring “Race & Religion” to be featured in the Columbia Missourian and on KBIA.
CORP Achievements: Recent CORP accomplishments are featured in the May 2009 Missouri School of Journalism Graduate Studies Newsletter. These include speaking engagements by Dr. Debra Mason, CORP director; large turnouts at recent CORP-sponsored events; and information about the new “Religious Literacy for the Public and Professions” class to be taught online this summer. Download the newsletter at the Missouri School of Journalism Graduate Program page, under Graduate Publications. The article appears on Page 11.
OTHER CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS
May 17-19 Conference: “Latinos in the Heartland” is a multi-state conference about the integration of immigrants into society. This is the eighth annual conference organized by University of Missouri’s Cambio de Colores Center. For more information, see www.cambiodecolores.org or e-mail dmartinez@missouri.edu.
July 19 Home Show: “Off-the-Grid” Urban Homestead. Sponsored by Interfaith Care for Creation. For more information, call (573) 443-4717 or e-mail mntwelch@yahoo.com. 406 Sanford Ave., Columbia, 2:30-4:30 p.m.
Sept. 20 Service Project: Interfaith Garden Project. Sponsored by Interfaith Care for Creation. For more information, call (573) 443-4717 or e-mail mntwelch@yahoo.com. Rock Bridge Christian Church, 301 W. Green Meadows Rd., Columbia, 2:30-4:30 p.m.
OTHER CAMPUS NEWS
Featured Book: Richard “Chip” Callahan’s <> recent book, “Work and Faith in the Kentucky Coal Fields: Subject to Dust,” is this week’s Book of the Week in Books & Culture: A Christian Review, a Christianity Today publication. Callahan is an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies at University of Missouri. With a primary interest in religion in America, Callahan’s research explores the sphere of work and labor, including how occupational cultures, settings and relations of exchange inform and are informed by religion. The book is published by University of Indiana Press.
New Book: “Troubling Violence: a Performance Project” by MU professors M. Heather Carver, associate professor of performance studies, and Elaine J. Lawless, professor of English, was recently published by University Press of Mississippi. The book traces the creative development of MU’s Troubling Violence Performance Project and presents real-life narratives to heighten social awareness and dialogue about intimate partner violence. Carver and Lawless are involved in the Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment (TREE) program.
New Initiatives: The MU Difficult Dialogues Program has a new Web site featuring its upcoming Summer Institute. Teams from 10 universities will participate June 12-15 to develop, foster, assess and improve difficult dialogues and create plans to implement difficult dialogues at their campuses. Funded by the Ford Foundation, Difficult Dialogues is designed to stimulate intellectual inquiry and empower people to express opposing views respectfully, including in cultural, religious and political areas. CORP collaborators Sandra Hodge (Rural Sociology) and Robert Baum (Religious Studies) are involved with Difficult Dialogues.
Quite a Fellow: CORP collaborator Clyde Bentley, MU associate professor in convergence journalism, was selected a 2009-10 Donald W. Reynolds Fellow at the Missouri School of Journalism’s Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI). Fellows work with other professional journalists, faculty and students at the Institute to develop groundbreaking new approaches to journalism. RJI was launched in 2004 with $31 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
GRANTS
Aug. 1 Deadline: “Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative” (PCRI). The PCRI provides up to $3.5 million for social science research on Pentecostalism and charismatic Christianity in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union. Up to seven grants will go to regional centers ($500,000 over two years) and 15 grants to individual scholars or small research teams ($100,000 over two years). Submit letters of intent by Aug. 1, 2009. Sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and administered by the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. For more information, see http://www.usc.edu/pcri.
CONFERENCES
Sept. 10-12 Conference: Religion Newswriters Association Conference in Minneapolis, Minn. Keynote address by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. Religion Newswriters Association is a nonprofit trade association that advances the professional standards of religion reporting in the secular press and provides a support network for religion reporters. Registration open. For more information and online registration, see http://www.rna.org.
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
Read what’s in the news about religion this week on CORP’s home page.
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