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In Spring 2002, West Georgia Psychology presented a colloqium series called Wednesday Matters.  This proseminar offered a weekly brown-bag presentation by a professor in our unique department.  Their approaches were diverse - some covered “here’s what I do these days,” others discussed “this is what I am interested in and passionate about”;  a few examined a specific project or topic, while others offered their personal take on a broader theme; and a couple made stabs at a "last lecture"!   Overall, the motif was, “I am here to talk about something that matters to me.”

Mark Kunkel explains that the idea came from two main concerns.  First, he recognized the need for faculty and students to come together in more direct contact.  Also, he understood that there is a tendency for students to feel isolated from their teachers.  While some may have a close relationship with a few, there may remain a sense of loneliness and distance.  Despite the collective spirit of our department and the conversations that took place daily in the cozy confines of 3rd floor Pafford and now the Melson lobby, there is always room for improvement.  Mark describes Wednesday Matters as an opportunity for such connection.  They will operate as a generative process, a container for the formalization and evolution of cooperative involvement.  Their mission is to provide colloqium in its root sense - as “co-locating.”  Some students are receiving course credit for their participation by writing interactive responses.

“A wonderful omelete can be made by breaking eggs,” says Mark.  The Wednesday Matters proseminar served as a wonderful two-way street for faculty-student interaction in which they may open up to one another in such a way that any wall between them can be broken down to ground-zero.  Not only was there the faculty’s opportunity to receive direct feedback from their disciples and the students’ chance to learn more about their professors and their work (which can be very helpful in the selection of a thesis advisor or the courses to take in upcoming semesters).  Most of all was the potential for discovery of common interests, which can manifest in some most wonderful relationships.
 

Click on the link for a Crucible summary of the presentation:

Don Rice  - Post 9/11 Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology
Jeff Reber  - Justice as Privileged Position: A Relational Perspective (Social Construction Triology)
Daniel Helminiak  - From Religion to Psychology: Concern for the Common Good (Social Construction Triology)
Elena Mustakova-Possardt  - Spiritual Justice in a Shrinking World (Social Construction Triology)
Jim Dillon  - Psychology and the Art of Listening
Eric Dodson  - The Ecstasy of Existence
Alan Pope  - Learning to See: The Myth of Transformation
Lisa Osbeck  - Reflections on the ‘Edifice’ Complex
Larry Schor  - What Help Have I to Give? A Journey to Ground Zero
Tobin Hart  - The Secret Spiritual Life of Children
Kareen Malone  - Psychoanalysis & the Ethics of Subjectivity
Mark Kunkel  - Deathbed Desiderata