Afro-Romance Institute at MU to co-sponsor genocide symposium

Published: April 20, 2012

The Afro-Romance Institute at MU, affiliated with the Department of Romance Languages and Literature, will be co-sponsoring a three-day symposium titled “Genocide in Rwanda: Media, Memory and Denial.” The event will feature keynote speakers Carl Wilkens, a humanitarian worker who stayed in Rwanda during its genocide and has since formed the nonprofit group World Outside My Shoes to bring global attention to issues of “the Other,” and Canadian Senator Roméo Dallaire, who served as commander of the United Nations relief effort in Rwanda during the early 1990s.

Events will take place across MU, with several speakers scheduled for a packed three days of discussion, film screenings, poetry and lectures. For a complete listing of events and their locations, view the full program flier at the Afro-Romance Institute website.

The symposium is being co-sponsored by:

  • Canadian Consulate in Chicago
  • Embassy of Rwanda, Washington D.C.
  • Step UP! American Association for Rwandan Women
  • Office of the Vice-Provost of International Programs
  • Office of the Chancellor Diversity Initiatives
  • University Lectures Committee
  • Peace Studies Program
  • Departments of Black Studies, History, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA),
    Sociology, Women and Gender Studies at MU

Time/Date: 7 p.m. April 26 to 10 p.m. April 28 (full schedule of events)

Carl Wilkens’ “Why I Chose to Stay in Rwanda” Keynote Address, 7 p.m. April 27 at Ellis Auditorium (map)
Roméo Dallaire’s “Are All Humans Human?” Keynote Address, 3:30 p.m. April 28 in Bush Auditorium at Cornell Hall (map)

Cost: The event is free and open to the public.

For more information: Contact Dr. Flore Zéphir, acting institute director and department chair, via email.

Also posted in Events 2011-2012

Holocaust survivor will speak at Ellis Library ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day

Published: April 12, 2012

Guenter Goldsmith, who escaped Nazi Germany on the last Kindertransport and arrived in St. Louis in August 1941, will speak on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day at Ellis Library at MU. The event is cosponsored by Mizzou Hillel, the MU Department of German and Russian Studies and the MU Libraries Diversity Action Committee. Goldsmith’s presentation will be followed by a Q-and-A session and a reception.

In addition to the talk on April 17, Ellis Library will be displaying winning submissions of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum’s annual Art and Writing Competition throughout the month of April.

Time/Date: 2 p.m. April 17

Location: Ellis Library at MU (map)

Cost: The event is free and open to the public.

For more information: Contact the MU Department of German and Russian Studies at MU at (573) 882-4328 or via email.

Also posted in Events 2011-2012

Center releases study on religious voices in the media on issues affecting gay and lesbian community

Published: April 12, 2012

The Center on Religion & the Professions, in partnership with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), released a three-year content analysis of news stories on Apr. 12, 2012 that shows a disproportionate number of anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues. The study examined 316 stories citing more than 1,350 sources with a religious identification, a vast majority of which had formal church policies opposing LGBT equality.

For more information, read the full press release from GLAAD, or contact GLAAD Director of Communications Rich Ferraro at (646) 871-8011 or via email; or GLAAD Director of Religion, Faith and Values Ross Murray at (646) 871-8040 or via email.

CORP Executive Director Debra Mason served as project director for the study, and was assisted by Cathy Ellen Rosenholtz, a Ph.D. candidate in Communications at MU and master’s graduate of the Divinity School at Harvard University.

For more specifics, (.pdf) read the report in its entirety from the Center on Religion and & the Professions website.

Also posted in News, News 2011-2012

MU Difficult Dialogues program to host public forum on reproductive rights

The MU Difficult Dialogues program, part of a nationwide effort to encourage intellectual discussion on contentious issues, will be holding a public forum on reproductive rights titled “Courageous Conversations on Contraception: Women’s Health and Religious Freedom” on April 4th.

A six-person panel of religious leaders and academics will tackle organized religions’ approach to issues of contraception, abortion and other reproductive rights. The panelists include:

John D. Baker, former senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Columbia and current executive director of The Community Foundation of Central Missouri
Joshua D. Hawley, associate professor of law at MU
JoAnn Jorgovan, assistant director of campus ministry at St. Thomas More Newman Center, a Catholic parish, at MU
Rebecca Martinez, assistant professor of women’s and gender studies at MU
Rigel C. Oliveri, associate dean for faculty research and development and associate professor of law at MU
Shawna Strickland, clinical associate professor in the Department of Cardiopulmonary and Diagnostic Sciences at MU’s School of Health Professions

Time/Date: 5 to 6:30 p.m. April 4

Location: Hulston Hall Room 7 (lower level, seats approximately 175 people), corner of Conley and Missouri avenues, across the street from the Mel Carnahan Quad. Map

Cost: This event is free and open to the public.

For more information: For more biographical information on the panelists, visit the MizzouDiversity website. For specifics about the event, contact Roger L. Worthington, a professor in the departments of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology and Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, via email or by phone at (573) 882-8360.

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WRIM participant to be honored with Missouri Humanities Award for Excellence in Education

Robert Baum, associate professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at MU, will be one of five people honored by the Missouri Humanities Council on April 18 for their efforts to promote diversity in the state. Baum will be recognized for his work in promoting understanding of various faiths in Missouri, which included teaching a two-day workshop funded by World Religions in Mid-Missouri, a sister project of the Center on Religion & Professions designed to increase understanding of religious diversity in Missouri’s public schools.

Baum has also been involved in the MU Difficult Dialogues program, part of a nationwide initiative to intellectually challenge students and faculty to express opposing viewpoints in a constructive way. He has provided insight into Islam religious practices and the issues facing Muslim students at MU for that program, which began at MU in 2006.

Baum joined MU’s Religious Studies Department in 2005, and has taught courses in numerous subject areas, including his particular area of emphasis, African and Indigenous Religions. Prior to MU, Baum was a professor at Iowa State University, and published the book “Shrines of the Slave Trade: Diola Religion and Society in Precolonial Senegambia” in 1999.

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