Photo courtesy of: University Communications and MarketingOHIO President M. Duane Nellis

In his first "First Fridays" letter of 2019, Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis previews the University's new "Challenging Dialogues" lecture series, which kicks off Jan. 24, and congratulates the OHIO Football and Women's Basketball teams for their recent victories.

Happy First Friday of 2019!

A new year brings with it the promise of new beginnings. The year 2019 marks the start of something new for Ohio University – the creation of a Challenging Dialogues lecture series. This campus-wide lecture series, which will be live streamed for our alumni audiences, was identified as a strategic priority for OHIO and I am proud we are making progress in this very important area.

The purpose of this lecture series is to have a constructive conversation surrounding contemporary issues that are leading the news cycle and overwhelming the public psyche. It is higher education’s responsibility to serve the greater good by expanding and improving humankind’s understanding of the world around us. This lecture series will strive to bring clarity to a world too often clouded in confusion. One of the hallmarks of the series is that multiple perspectives will be presented on any given topic in an effort to better understand the full complexity of the issues.

We do not seek to find answers to society’s most difficult problems. We seek to better understand the problem itself. We seek to create better listeners and by extension, better communicators. And we seek to find comfort in the uncomfortable. The discussions facilitated during these lecture series are not meant to make us feel better about ourselves or bolster our own personal arguments; these conversations should challenge our worldview in a way that is atypical and perhaps even unexpected.

I want to thank the members of the OHIO Challenging Dialogues for Contemporary Issues Task Force who have been working since last spring to bring this lecture series to fruition. I am thankful for the leadership of Dr. Jenny Hall-Jones and Dr. Theodore Hutchinson in their roles as co-chairs of this task force and I look forward to our first lecture being held later this month in Baker University Center Ballroom A with Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Executive Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, on January 24 at 7 p.m. The interactive presentation titled “The Power of In/Civility: Engaging in Challenging Conversations Across the University, Community, Nation” will be the first in the lecture series and is intended to kick-off this new initiative, including the audience in a thought-provoking dialogue. The event will be free and open to the public.

Dr. Lukensmeyer is the founder of AmericaSpeaks, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that is internationally renowned as being a leader in the field of “deliberative democracy and citizen engagement.” According to its website, AmericaSpeaks holds that people can and will find common ground despite deep differences in opinion to solve problems. I look forward to hearing Dr. Lukensmeyer’s interactive presentation and I hope you too will not only watch and listen, but also take the lessons you acquire and use them in your own future difficult discussions.

Oh, and one last thing… congratulations to our Bobcats football team for a dominating win in the Frisco Bowl and to our Bobcat women’s basketball team, who has started the season 11-0 for the first time in program history.

I hope you all had a nice holiday and feel revitalized and prepared for a new year ahead. I know I do! Onwards and upwards, Bobcats!

Respectfully,

M. Duane Nellis, Ph.D.
President
 

NEWS TO USE

• The Bobcat Family is making major impacts on their respective fields, their communities and the world. Read about some of 2018’s Most Notable OHIO Alumni.
• More than 900 students participated in Ohio University’s 2018 Fall Commencement ceremony on December 15^th. Keynote Speaker Dr. Nancy Stevens, an award-winning professor in OHIO’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, encouraged graduates to make a difference on a rapidly changing planet. WATCH the Fall Commencement video recap.
• New OHIO photojournalism graduate Emma Howells was one of 32 students worldwide to be selected as an intern for The New York Times. Read more about Emma Howells.
• OHIO meteorologists challenge the long-held idea that tornados form from the top down. This groundbreaking research could change the way tornado warnings are issued. Read more about Assistant Professor of Meteorology Dr. Jana Houser’s new study.