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Creative Conversations Archive

Creative Conversations: Sharing Works in Progress logo

 

Building on the foundation of the Thursday Food for Thought series, the SPU Library began inviting member of the SPU community to share scholarly and creative works in progress. The library hosted Creative Conversations from Autumn 2013 to Spring 2018.

2013–14 ACADEMIC YEAR

2013/2014
Fall

  • Jeff Keuss, Theology – The Gospel According to Stephen King
  • Shannon Huffman Polson, MFA '12  –  North of Hope: Memoir, Memory, and Mercy
  • Ben McFarland, Biochemistry  – The Quickening: How Chemistry Shaped Biology
  • David Wicks and Andrew Lumpe  – bPortfolios: Using an Open Blogging Platform for Reflective Learning

Winter

  • Rob Wall and David Nienhuis, Theology - A bit-sized Introduction to the Whole Bible
  • Suzanne M. Wolfe, English - The Iron Ring: A Novel, The Confessions of St. Augustine's Concubine
  • Myrna Capp, Music - Namibian Soundscapes: Music of the People and the Land
  • Don Yanik, Theater - A conversation about Scene Design

Spring

  • Zeek Earl, director, SHEP films –  Indie Filmmaking in Seattle
  • Jennifer Maier, English – Now, Now - Selected Poems and Conversation
  • Kimberly Segall, English – Performing Democracy: Women in the Arab Spring
  • Bruce Baker, Business and Adam Arabian, Engineering – The Spirit of Entrepreneurship and the Imago Dei

2014–15 ACADEMIC YEAR

2014/2015

Fall

  • Doug Thorpe, English - Palestine, Poetry, and the Promised Land
  • Roger Feldman, Art - Language of the Senses
  • Doug Koskela, Theology - Calling and Clarity
  • Karen Snedker and Jeniffer McKinney - Homelessness in Seattle: A Christian University's Response

Winter

  • Dan Martin, University President - Rich Soil: Transforming Your Organization's Landscape for Maximum Effectiveness
  • Paul Yost, Psychology - Leading From Where You Are
  • Amy Roberston and Kara Gray, Physics - Content Knowledge for Teaching
  • Christine Chaney, English - SPU's Core Curriculum: From Aristotle to Brain Imaging

Spring

  • Christa Pierce, BA '13 - Children's book Publishing: Did you Know that I Love You?
  • Doug Strong, Theology - Rediscovering Our Evangelical Heritage
  • Chris Hoke, MFA '13 - Monasticism in Lockdown America
  • Dyana Herron, Image Milton Fellow - Laughing in the Dark: Using Humor to Write about (Seriously) Tough Topics

2015–16 ACADEMIC YEAR

2015/2016

Fall

  • Stephen Newby, Music - Creating New Music for "Hosea - an Oratorio"
  • Karen Snedker and Jennifer McKinney, Sociology - From Charity to Change: A Christian University Responds to Homelessness
  • Richard Scheuerman, Education - Help Wanted: World's Seventh Largest "Country" Seeks Ambassadors - SPU and Global Orphan Nation
  • Bomin Shim, Nursing - Finding Meaning in the Dementia Caregiving Relationship 

Winter

  • Michael Paulus, Library, Bruce Baker, Business, Mike Lanford, Theology - Digital Wisdom: Continuing the Conversation
  • Al Erisman, Business - Business, Theology, and Mathematics
  • Amy Robertson and Rachel Scherr, Physics - Responsive Teaching in Science and Mathematics
  • Kerry Dearborn, Theology - Drinking From the Wells of New Creation: The Holy Spirit and Imagination in Reconciliation

Spring

  • Camellia Freeman, Image Milton Fellow - Writing the Body: Form, Politics, and Physicality in the Personal Essay
  • Rolin Moe, Educational Technology and Media - Defining Innovation: A Critical Look at the Language of Educational Progress
  • Robert Baah, Spanish - Psalm 58 and the Way of Justice: Perspectives from Father Ernesto Cardenal

2016–17 ACADEMIC YEAR

2016/2017

Fall

  • Adrienne Meier, Library - Incomplete Roots: Dealing with Gaps in SPU's Records
  • Daniel Castelo, Theology - Pentecostalism as a Christian Mystical Tradition
  • Margaret Brown, CSFD - Rigorous Reflection 

Winter

  • Brian Chin, Music - How to Fail as a 21st Century Artist
  • David Leong, Theology - Race and Place: How Urban Geography Shapes the Journey to Reconciliation
  • Kim Gilnett - Road to Redemption: A Screening of the WWII Documentary Featuring POW, SPU Alum, and Missionary Jake Deshazer

Spring

  • Peter Moe, English

Thursday, April 20th
12–12:50 p.m.

Habit, Virtue, Writing

There are many pedagogies that a writing teacher might use: feminist, Marxist, process, post-process, structuralist, post-structuralist, to name a few.   But is there such a thing as Christian composition?   In this talk, Peter Wayne Moe, assistant professor of English and director of campus writing, will look to pieces of student writing in order to share what a Christian writing pedagogy might look like.

  • Isaac Anderson, Image Milton Fellow

Thursday, May 4th
3 - 3:50 p.m.

The We of Me: Writing the Relations that Define us

Our stories often find their significance where the “me” and the “we” intersect. This talk will consider the ways the personal essay decenters the self to make room for another’s experience, complicating and enriching the individual in the process

  • Tina Schermer-Sellers, Marriage and Family Therapy

Thursday, May 11th

12–12:50 p.m.

Sex, God, & the Conservative Church: Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy

This book guides psychotherapy and sexology clinicians on how to treat clients who grew up in a conservative faith—mired in sexual shame and dysfunction—and who desire to both heal and hold on to their faith orientation. The book walks clinicians and readers through a critique of Western culture and the conservative Christian Church, and their effects on intimate partnerships and sexual lives. It provides clinicians a way to understand the faulty sexual ethic of the early church, while revealing the hidden mystical sex and body positive understanding of sexuality of the Hebrew people. The book also includes chapters on strategies for a new sexual ethic, on clinical steps to heal religious sexual shame, and on specific sex therapy interventions clinicians can use directly in their practice. Finally, it offers a four step model for healing religious sexual shame and actual touch and non-touch exercises to bring healing and intimacy into a person's life.

2017–18 ACADEMIC YEAR

2017/2018

Fall

  •  Doug Thorpe (English), Brian Chin (Music), Sarah Mosher (Theatre), and Karin Stevens (Theatre)

Thursday, November 30th
12-1 p.m.

"Creating Art through Collaboration: Presenting Saci and The Greater Trumps"

Winter

  • Claudia Castro Luna, Washington State Poet Laureate

Friday, January 26th
12–12:50 p.m.

Finding Home: Seattle is a house we all need to afford

Claudia Castro Luna served as Seattle's Civic Poet from 2015-2017 and will serve as Washington State Poet Laureate 2018-2020.  Join us as we hear a reading of works in progress by Claudia Castro Luna, Tent City 3 residents, and SPU students.

  • Philosophy Faculty and Students

Thursday, February 8th
3–3:50 p.m.

Thinking in the Open

Philosophers Rebekah Rice, Patrick McDonald, Leland Saunders, and Matthew Benton (including members of the undergraduate Philosophy Cadre) will reflect together on the tendency of philosophers to want to expose their work-in-progress to the most powerful critiques available, even before publication, and, as they do so, communicate a sense of what it is like to write for and publish within such a sharing but critical culture.

  • Paul Youngbin Kim, Psychology and Sarah-Ann Moh, SPU Student

Thursday, February 22nd
12–12:50 p.m.

Racial Microaggressions in Faith-Based Contexts

Racial microaggression is one of the most widely researched topics in recent multicultural psychology literature. But what might racial microaggressions in a Christian context look like? In this talk, Paul Youngbin Kim (Associate Professor of Psychology) and Sarah-Ann Moh (undergraduate student in Psychology) will discuss their ongoing project to create and validate a research instrument assessing racial microaggressions experienced by students enrolled in Christian higher education institutions.

Spring

  • Leah Airt, Doug Downing, & Rolin Moe

Thursday, April 12th
12–12:50 p.m.

How to Blog like an Academic

This event is part of a series of panels on "How to Do Scholarship" put on by the Writing Center, Library, and Center for Scholarship & Faculty Development. Speakers from across campus will address the difficulties and delights of writing and publishing.

  • Katie Kresser & Ben McFarland

Thursday, April 19th
12–12:50 p.m.

How to Pitch a Book Proposal

This event is part of a series of panels on "How to Do Scholarship" put on by the Writing Center, Library, and Center for Scholarship & Faculty Development. Speakers from across campus will address the difficulties and delights of writing and publishing.

  • Tom Carpenter, Psychology

Friday, April 27th 
12–12:50 p.m.

Open Scholarship, Open Science

Research in psychology is changing. Historically, scientists did their work privately, in their own labs. Now, a generation of young researchers are experimenting with a new model. These researchers are implementing open science - a model of transparency and materials sharing (e.g., data, code, survey materials) that take full advantage of the internet as a means of sharing science. Come hear how Dr. Carpenter and his team of SPU students are experimenting with these new models and hear the direction the field is going, away from the traditional "paper" model of study and more toward peer-reviewed "study websites".