Trent University is pleased to introduce 50 Talks for 50 Schools, bringing faculty into local elementary and high school classrooms to share their knowledge on a variety of disciplines from history to biology, and covering a wide range of topics from computer modelling to entrepreneurship.
Created in celebration of Trent University’s 50th anniversary, and supported by the Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA), 50 Talks for 50 Schools provides an opportunity for faculty and graduate students to connect with the community and share Trent’s expertise and high-quality reputation with local schools.
“50 Talks for 50 Schools is a wonderful way for us to encourage the intellectual interests and aspirations of local students. Whatever track those students may ultimately decide to follow, we think it important to ensure that broad segments of our community come to realize that exciting and important research is taking place right next door at Trent,” said Dr. Jocelyn Williams, president of TUFA. “We are especially appreciative of the enormous contribution to the success of this project being made by several of our colleagues and, toward that end, thank Dr. Melanie Buddle and Dr. Sabine McConnell for arranging these talks.”
Launched this fall, the school lecture series has already received positive response from school administrators and teachers. Schools in Peterborough, Lindsay, Norwood, Bobcaygeon, Haliburton, Oshawa, Courtice and Bowmanville have already asked for classroom talks. Requests have come in for all age groups and from private, public and separate schools. Home-schooled children and French language schools have also been included in the outreach.
During the week of October 20-24, Dr. Paul Elliott of Trent’s School of Education and Professional Learning visited Norwood to talk to a grade six class about bats, while a grade 8 class in Peterborough welcomed Geography professor Dr. Peter Lafleur, whose slideshow depicted life in an arctic research camp and animals one might meet on the tundra. Dr. Hugh Elton, a professor in the Ancient History & Classics program, will be stopping into another Peterborough classroom in early November to talk about how computer modelling and serious games have begun to change the study of Roman Warfare. Trent’s president, Dr. Leo Groarke, a Philosophy professor, is also participating in the program. He will be speaking with a Bowmanville high school class about how to prepare for the future.
“Many of our faculty have children in the local school boards while others noted they were just really happy to have an opportunity to visit local schools, and to share their research with young people,” said Dr. Melanie Buddle, academic advisor. “Given the responses we’ve had from local teachers so far, we could easily book 100 talks.”
50 Talks for 50 Schools will continue until June 2015 and requests for faculty visits are still being accepted. Teachers and administrators are asked to browse trentu.ca/50talks to view the available programs and to email 50talks@trentu.ca to indicate which they are interested in booking.
50 Talks for 50 Schools is proudly sponsored by TUFA. For a full list of Trent’s 50th anniversary events, please visit trentu.ca/fifty.
Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2014.