News Archive
October 2009
Howard Dean and Karl Rove - Debate on Healthcare
More information about this event (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Tuesday, October 27, 8:00 pm in Eisenhower Auditorium
Dean (former Governor of Vermont and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee) and Rove (former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush) came to Eisenhower Auditorium to give a joint lecture on the topic of healthcare.
The Center for Democratic Deliberation was a co-sponsor of this event.
J. Michael Hogan - Deliberation or Disruption? Lessons from the Town Hall Meetings on Health Care Reform
Wednesday, October 21, 12pm at the Downtown Theatre
Research Unplugged gathers on Wednesdays at noon in the gallery of the Penn State Downtown Theatre, a great conversation space in a popular location. Downtown restaurants provide light refreshments at no cost to guests. The afternoon begins with a 10-15 minute introduction of the topic, followed by an open floor for questions and discussion.
Dr. Hogan is the co-director of the Center for Democratic Deliberation.
Download the flyer for this event (PDF, 170 K)
More information about the Research Unplugged series
Hooman Majd spoke on October 15 in the Foster Auditorium on Iran -- America's top foreign policy concern. Who are Iranians? How did they come to be? And what do they really think about America? Majd's gift for explaining Iran's history and quirks to Western observers is evident in his book, The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. A New York Times bestseller, it was also the #1 foreign policy book and the #1 book on Islam at amazon.com. In 2008, it was named an Economist Book of the Year.
Majd was born in Iran and raised and educated in America. The son of an Iranian diplomat, and the grandson of an eminent Ayatollah, Majd has worked as an advisor and translator for two Iranian Presidents, Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on their trips to the United States and the UN.
The talk was co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Program, Department of History & Religious Studies Program, the Rock Ethics Institute, the Migration Studies Project, the Schreyer Honors College, and the Department of Political Science.
- Download the poster for this event (PDF format, 486 KB)
- Collegian article about this event
- Penn State Live article about this event
May 2009
The CDD is pleased to annouce the recipients of its Graduate Fellowships for Fall 2009 and Spring 2010. Congratulations to David Green, Fall 2009 Fellow, and to Una Kimokeo-Goes and Sara Ann Mehltretter, Spring 2010 Fellows.
April 2009
Penn State’s Center for Democratic Deliberation is pleased to announce the seventeenth Kenneth Burke Prize in Rhetoric, to be awarded to the best essay written by a graduate student in a liberal arts discipline on the subject of rhetoric in its many forms—as historical, critical, pedagogical, aesthetic, or theoretical discourse.
Papers written for seminars or conferences, or composed specifically for the Burke Prize, are all welcome. The essays, which should have been composed over the last year, will be judged on the basis of their scholarship, significance, and rhetorical artistry. (Essays submitted previously for the prize should not be resubmitted.) A prize of $200.00 will be awarded to the winning graduate student.
Graduate students should submit three copiestheir essays to Christi Daniels, 104 Burrowes Building (mailbox in 139 Burrowes Building), by Monday, April 13. Include a cover sheet with your name and the essay’s title. Your name should not appear anywhere in the essay itself.
The Burke Prize will be announced and awarded before the Annual Kenneth Burke Lecture on Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 7 pm in 100 Thomas Building.
March 2009
Cheryl Glenn, co-director of the CDD, has been awarded the first A.W. Mellon Fellowship in rhetorical studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Glenn will spend late spring and early summer in South Africa, where she will teach and lecture at UCT’s Centre for Rhetoric Studies. The A.W. Mellon Foundation’s major contribution to UCT’s Faculty of Humanities is designated for bringing in outstanding scholars who will enrich departmental research cultures and academic endeavors. Visiting fellows teach at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, interact with doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, and participate in research projects in the UCT Faculty.
February 2009
On Tuesday February 24th the Center for Democratic Deliberation held an African American Read-In inthe Grucci Room of the Burrowes Building. It was a nationwide movement through the National Council of Teachers of English for the month of February. Volunteers were asked to read a short piece of writing by an African-American and explain why they picked the piece. More information can be found through the Daily Collegian here.
Former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, addressed the audience in Eisenhower Auditorium on February 5th. Discussing ongoing wars and economic crisis, Albright focused on the problems the country is facing while expressing confidence in President Barack Obama's administration; She stressed her hope for a better America. More information can be found through the Daily Collegian here.
November 2008
CDD Co-Director Mike Hogan received two of the communication discipline's most prestigious awards at the November 2008 meeting of the National Communication Association. The Douglas W. Ehninger Award recognizes scholars who "through multiple publications and presentations around a rhetorical topic or theme, demonstrates intellectual creativity, perseverance, and impact on academic communities." Hogan also was elected an NCA Distinguished Scholar, NCA's highest award, recognizing a "lifetime of scholarly achievement in the study of human communication."
October 2008
Dr. Haivan V. Hoang, Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will give a lecture entitled “Advocating for Asian American Education: The Rhetoric of Newcomers and Old Threats” on Thursday, October 30, 2008, at 5 p.m. in 207 Henderson-South. This lecture is part of the CDD's Deliberating Across Differences series.
The Center for Democratic Deliberation held a debate watch in the Thomas Building for Penn State Students for the final Presidential Debate. About 70 enthusiastic students showed up ready to cheer and voice their own opinions regarding this very important election. More information can be found through the Daily Collegian here.
September 2008
The CDD is pleased to annouce the recipients of its Graduate Fellowships for Fall 2008 and Spring 2009. Congratulations to Kevin Browne and Brandy Scalise, Fall 2008 Fellows, and to Jessica Sheffield and Matt Weiss, Spring 2009 Fellows.
May 2008
CDD co-director Mike Hogan has been involved in several recent initiatives to promote civic engagement and deliberation among young people. On April 18, Hogan was invited to the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg to meet with First Lady Marjorie Rendell and educators from across Pennsylvania at a program introducing the Pennsylvania Department of Education's new curriculum framework for K-12 civics education. On May 20, Hogan served as the scholarly advisor for "The Exchange," a series of Internet-2 videoconferences for high school students hosted by the National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia. Entitled "Setting the Student Agenda for 2008," this episode of the series was hosted by MTV news correspondent SuChin Pak and brought together high school students from Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Georgia, and Louisiana to discuss the important issues of the 2008 presidential campaign. A video of the live two-hour videoconference can be viewed on the NCC's website.
April 25, 2008
Krista Ratcliffe, Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Marquette University, delivered the Sixteenth Annual Kenneth Burke Lecture today. Her talk, “Rhetorical Listening from a Multiethnic Subject Position: Agency and Troubled Identifications” developed the concept of rhetorical listening as a strategy for negotiating difference. Prof. Ratcliffe argued for the creation of “troubled identifications” across difference, and for the exploration of our own identities as multiethnic, as a crucial component of rhetorical listening.
March 3, 2008
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton, spoke today as part of the CDD’s “Deliberating Across Differences” Lecture Series. He delivered his talk, “How to Argue with Strangers,” to a standing-room-only crowd in Foster Auditorium. Prof. Appiah also met with faculty and students in seminar setting to discuss his work and issues of ethics and difference more generally. More information can be found through the Collegian here.