Events are Complimentary and Open to the Public

(Columbia, Tenn. - November 8, 2010) - - - Columbia State Community College will host New Ideas in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The series of presentations will be held on select Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m. in the Waymon L. Hickman building on the Columbia Campus. The series is complimentary and open to the public.

New Ideas in the Humanities and Social Sciences is the theme for this year's annual Humanities and Social Sciences lecture series and emphasizes topics that are new to the public or issues that have been rediscovered and re-lionized in recent years. This series is sponsored by the Columbia State Humanities and Social Sciences division.

The Challenges of Water will be held on Wednesday, November 17 in the Waymon L. Hickman building, room 122. Professor of Economics Dr. Chaitram Talele will present a macroeconomic analysis of the serious issues regarding water and water rights in the coming decades. As potable water across the globe diminishes in supply, political scientists have suggested that rights of water usage could lead to massive destabilization across the world. Talele will explore this and other economic implications of reduced world resources.

Abraham Lincoln Divorce Lawyer is scheduled for Wednesday, December 1 in the Waymon L. Hickman building, room 122. Instructor of History Tom Flagel will enlighten the audience on a little known aspect of President Lincoln's earlier career as a lawyer in a variety of divorce actions. Lincoln's experience with divorce would steal him for the struggles in his own relationships and marriage.

Millennial Challenge will be presented on Thursday, January 27 in the Waymon L. Hickman building, room 140. Associate Professor of English Beverly Mitchell will discuss how literature and translations since this new era began have posed challenges for professors in the Humanities. Mitchell will also assess the risks and rewards of this new era of globalism in light of recent Nobel prizes in literature, trends in the arts, and movements in popular culture.

Trueblood and the Creepy / Funny World of Author Charlene Harris will take place on Thursday, February 17 in the Waymon L. Hickman building, room 122. Professor of English James Senefeld and Associate Vice President Joni Lenig will hold a 'spirited' dialogue on the wonderful rise of Charlene Harris, an author who has pumped new blood into the vein of Southern Gothic literature. Harris' characters are wicked, perverse, funny, witty, and filled with the sort of arcane humor that someone acquires after being around for a few millennia. Harris truly takes a bite out of crime.

Fellow Travelers will be held on Thursday, March 24 in the Waymon L. Hickman building, room 122. Ana Basoa-McMillan, Associate Professor of English and Spanish; Lacy Benns-Owens, Associate Professor of Speech; and Emily Gaskill, Assistant Professor of Music will report on the happenings abroad. These three faculty members made expeditions to Europe this past summer. Basoa-McMillan spent the summer in Spain, Benns-Owens in Ireland, and Gaskill in Denmark. The trio will discuss the cultural changes they witnessed and the manner in which European society is quite different than domestic culture.

Arriving Poetic is scheduled for Wednesday, April 13 in the Waymon L. Hickman building, room 122. Professor of English Jeff Hardin will explore muses, matrixes, and miscellany in recent compositions. Hardin, who is widely published and recently anthologized in Mentor and Muse, will discuss the liminal and epiphanal in poetry praxis.

For more information contact Dr. Stuart Lenig, Professor of Communications and Drama, at (931) 540-2877 or by emailing slenig@columbiastate.edu.

Columbia State is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton. As Tennessee's first community college, Columbia State is committed to increasing access and enhancing diversity at all five campuses. Columbia State is a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the sixth largest higher education system in the nation. For more information, please visit www.columbiastate.edu.