13th annual Humanities Symposium kicks off Friday night

Beginning Friday, Sept. 19, Belmont University will host the 13th Annual Humanities Symposium featuring speakers from all over the country.

The conference will focus on the theme of time and space, specifically referencing Andrew Marvell’s famous words, “Had we but world enough and time” in the poem “To His Coy Mistress.”

With 45 events and more than 40 chances for students to receive various convocation credits, including evening events, the symposium will be an opportunity for teachers and students to engage in intellectual conversations about the scientific, historical and literary theories of time and space.

Aside from receiving convocation credits, students should take advantage of the fact that these talks are geared toward students and at least one of the topics will relate to each person’s discipline, said Maggie Monteverde, chairman of the symposium and Belmont English professor.

Among the topics scheduled to be discussed this year are “No Abiding Place: Jane Austen in Time and Space,” “Time Travel and Redemption at Hogwarts: Redemptive Actions Made Possible by Time Travel in ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban,’” and the much anticipated “Neverending Time: Time Lords and Narrative Time in Dr. Who.”

In addition to discussions and lectures, there will be opportunities to view films such as “Dead Poet’s Society” and “Groundhog Day” for personal and professional growth convocation credit.

“I’m very excited about this year’s theme because this subject matter has interested me for a long time,” said Monteverde, describing the topic as “elusive but profoundly intriguing and important.”

Having speakers from a wide range of disciplines all talking about time will be rewarding and provide an element of diversity, said Monteverde.

This diversity will certainly be easily accomplished considering that there will be 10 speakers, some from as far as California, addressing the topic.

There will also be variety within the featured speakers. While the symposium normally centers around one guest, this year a few will present on three different evenings. Among these guests will be Eva Brann, recipient of the 2005 National Humanities Medal, and filmmaker Louise Woehrle.

“I believe this is what education is about: seeing connections between disciplines and ideas,” said Monteverde.

For a full schedule of events:

http://www.belmont.edu/liberal-arts/humanities_symposium/index.html

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