Convocations

Spring 2006 Schedule

All spring Convocations are subject to change.

Thursday, January 26 - 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
Speak the Speech: Acting Shakespeare
Michael York
Award Winning Actor

Oxford educated actor, and true Renaissance Man; Michael York is a star of stage, film, and television. He has performed Shakespeare throughout Europe and has been awarded the Order of the British Empire, the French Ordre National des Arts et des Lettres, and has received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mr. York has over 60 screen credits and another sixty-plus audio book credits. His films include Austin Powers, Cabaret (opposite Liza Minnelli), Something for Everyone, and The Three Musketeers. On television he has starred in Perfect Little Angels, A Knight In Camelot, The Ring, and Orson Welles Tales from the Black Museum, among others. He has also authored two critically acclaimed books.

While visiting SUU, Mr. York will also offer a special evening presentation to benefit the Fred Adams Renaissance Man Scholarship fund. For information on tickets to the evening performance please visit: www.suu.edu/arts

Presented in conjunction with the College of Performing & Visual Arts and the Utah Shakespearean Festival

Tuesday, February 7 - 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
Black Boy
From the Novel by Richard Wright
Presented by Charles Holt
Adapted and Directed by Wynn Handman
Executive Director: David Kener

Broadway actor Charles Holt presents a one-man performance of the late Richard Wright’s autobiography, Black Boy, which describes Wright’s life and his harrowing experiences as a black man growing up in early 20th century America. The performance features vignettes depicting scenes from the book. Holt, who is a native of Nashville, has performed Black Boy all over the nation including New York, Atlanta and Salt Lake City.

Mr. Holt’s television and film credits include Law and Order, Anne B. Real, Generation X and Autumn in New York.

This American Place Theatre Literature to Life presentation of Black Boy is made by special arrangement with Southern Utah University

For booking inquires about this or any other American Place Theatre Literature to Life Arts Education program, please contact Jennifer Barnette, Managing Director at The American Place Theatre, Phone 212.594.4482, ext. #16. Email at: edu@americanplacetheatre.org

Presented in conjunction with Black History Month, the SUU Multicultural Center, the College of Education and the College of Performing and Visual Arts

Thursday, March 2 - 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
The Art of Deception: Are YOU in Danger of Being "Conned"?
Kevin Mitnik
Founder, Mitnik Security Consulting

As the world's most famous (former) hacker, Kevin Mitnik has been the subject of countless news and magazine articles published throughout the world. He has made guest appearances on numerous television and radio programs, offering expert commentary on issues related to information security. In addition to appearing on local network news programs, he has made appearances on 60 Minutes, The Learning Channel, Tech TV's Screen Savers, Court TV, Good Morning America, CNN's Burden of Proof, Street Sweep, and Talkback Live, National Public Radio, and as a guest star on ABC's spy drama "Alias". Mitnick has served as a keynote speaker at numerous industry events, hosted a weekly talk radio show on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, testified before the United States Senate, written for Harvard Business Review and spoken for Harvard Law School. He has authored two best-selling books, The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion.

Sponsored by the Gerald R. Sherratt Library, commemorating its 10th anniversary.

Tuesday, March 7 - 11:30 am – Randall L. Jones Theatre
Einstein's Dreams
The Spring 2006 Grace A. Tanner Distinguished Lecture
Alan Lightman
Novelist, essayist, physicist and educator

Alan Lightman is a novelist, essayist, physicist, and educator. Currently, he is Adjunct Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Lightman's scientific research has focused on gravitation theory, the structure and behavior of accretion disks, stellar dynamics, radiative processes, and relativistic plasmas. His research articles have appeared in The Physical Review, The Astrophysical Journal, Reviews of Modern Physics, Nature, and other journals of physics and astrophysics. For his contributions to physics, he was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1989 and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science the same year. In 1990, he chaired the science panel of the National Academy of Sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee for the 1990s. He is a past chair of the High Energy Division of the American Astronomical Society.

Lightman's novel Einstein's Dreams was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. It was runnerup for the 1994 PEN New England/Boston Globe Winship Award. Einstein's Dreams was also the March 1998 selection for National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" Book Club. The novel has been used in numerous colleges and universities, in many cases for university-wide adoptions in "common-book" programs.

Sponsored by the Grace A. Tanner Center for Human Values in conjunction with the College of Science, the College of Computing, Integrated Engineering & Technology, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Tuesday, March 21- 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
Native American Week Presentation
Denise Alley
Speaker and Native American Performer

Denise Alley's passion is to lead participants into developing their own positive vision. She is a speaker and trainer who facilitates workshops and speaks across the United States and Canada. Denise is a Cherokee/Shawnee/Otoe from Oklahoma and believes in the healing and personal and professional development of Native people.

Denise also is a Native American performer in song, dance, and Indian sign language. She performs annually with Willie Nelson and Neil Young at benefit events including Farm-Aid and Bridge School in California.

Presented in conjunction with Native American Week and the SUU Multicultural Center

Tuesday, March 28 - 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
Toto, We're Not In Kansas Anymore
Dr. Mary Frances Arnold
Psychologist and Lecturer

Dr. Mary Frances Arnold is a dynamic, inspirational, and interactive speaker. Dr. Arnold provides workshops and keynote addresses regarding diversity, leadership, team building, and wellness. She has traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and Thailand to speak for corporations, high schools, colleges and universities, and non-profit organizations. Dr. Arnold brings theory into reality by incorporating "real life" stories with skill building. Participants of her programs walk away with a greater sense of their personal and professional journeys and tools for continued growth. Dr. Arnold has an ability to reach that which is most meaningful while inspiring participants to strive for individual and community compassion, passion, and action.

Diversity and Multiculturalism have become catchwords for the past decade. We are caught in times of political correctness, where “saying” the right thing is worlds away from “doing” the right thing. Considered one of the most inclusive sessions on diversity, participants will explore race, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic class, ability, size and international discrimination in an interactive format. By using this approach, participants learn to build coalitions with groups who never thought they had anything in common with one another.

Presented in conjunction with the SUU Women’s Conference, the College of Education, the Teaching ALL Conference and the SUU Student Success Center

Thursday, April 6 - 11:30 am – Randall L. Jones Theatre
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
Dr. Stephen R. Covey
Best-selling author and businessman

Dr. Covey is co-founder/co-chairman of the FranklinCovey Company, the largest management and leadership development organization in the world, dedicated to Dr. Covey's vision of empowering organizations to implement principle-centered leadership in their cultures. Dr. Covey is perhaps best known as the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which is ranked as a No. 1 best-seller by the New York Times, having sold more than 12 million copies in 32 languages and 75 countries throughout the world. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People audio program is the first non-fiction audio in history to sell over one million copies in the United States. He is widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on empowerment. Thousands of organizations worldwide--including two thirds of the Fortune 500--have adopted his innovative techniques on quality, leadership, innovation, trust, teamwork, customer-focused service and organizational alignment.

Presented in conjunction with the School of Business and SUU President Steve Bennion

Tuesday, April 11 - 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
Forensic Anthropology: The Real CSI
Mary Manhein
Forensic Anthropologist

You may have heard of Mary Manhein by her nickname "The Bone Lady." She is the director of the FACES lab at LSU and author of the book The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist. Director Manhein is a Fellow in the Physical Anthropology section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She is also a Deputy Coroner for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA and is an expert witness in Forensic Anthropology. She has handled more than 700 forensic cases, including retrieval and identification of victims of industrial explosions and fires. As a speaker she is in demand all over the world and you can often see her on the national news as she tackles and solves high profile cases.

Presented in conjunction with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Science

Tuesday, April 18 - 11:30 am – SUU Auditorium
Learning to Perform With Confidence In Life and Work
Michael Colgrass
Emmy and Pulitzer Prize winning composer

Michael Colgrass won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Déjà vu, which was commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic. In addition, he received an Emmy Award in 1982 for a PBS documentary "Soundings: The Music of Michael Colgrass." He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships, A Rockefeller Grant, First Prize in the Barlow and Sudler International Wind Ensemble Competitions, and the 1988 Jules Leger Prize for Chamber Music.

Mr. Colgrass' appeal reaches far beyond the world of performing and visual arts. His presentation will address skills needed by performance-minded people, like managers, entrepreneurs, performing artists, athletes, students, politicians, interviewers, public speakers, mediators - anyone who executes a skill under pressure, pushed by a deadline and observed by others. Or anyone who wants to learn how to perform at his or her best, "on stage" or off.

Presented in conjunction with the College of Performing & Visual Arts