The Valpo Core

CORE Students! Join Amnesty International at our CORE approved information and discussion forum on child soldiers. As you learned from reading Ishmael Beah’s book, the situation of child soldiers continues in several countries around the world. After reading and discussing the book you may have had some unanswered questions, and after hearing Ishmael Beah speak, you may be wondering how you can help out. Come out to this event for information, discussion and ways to help prevent stories like Ishmael Beah’s from becoming realities for anyone else!

The event will be held from 7pm-8pm, Wednesday, April 1st, in the Alumni Room of the Harre Union.

Hope to see you there!

A Talk with Herbert “Tico” Braun

Professor of History, University of Virginia
and Colombian with first-hand experience negotiating with the FARC rebels

Speaking on the realities of daily life in Colombia
Followed by ample time for Questions and Discussion

Wednesday, March 25
3:00-4:00 pm
Brown & Gold Room, Harre Union

All Students, Faculty and Staff Welcome

Colombia Beyond the Headlines

Tuesday, March 24, from 3-5 pm in Ballrooms B and C of the Harre Union

Are you thinking about declaring a major? Do you wonder what it might be like to study in one of VU’s departments? Do you wonder where a certain major might lead you once you’ve finished it? Come out to the Majors Fair and ask these questions! Representatives from many of VU’s departments and colleges will be present to help answer them, in an informal “open house”-style atmosphere. It’s a good chance to get some important information that will help you in planning the course of your studies.

Pizza will be served!

Happy Naw Ruz! Happy New  Day!

This event is a celebration of the beginning of a new calendar year for the Baha’is worldwide.

Friday, March 20, 2009, 5:30-8:00 pm, in the CCLIR Community Room

Program:

5:30 Tea, cookies, and music with PowerPoint presentation

5:45 Sarah Wong and Judy Farnsworth

6:15 Keynote speech: Ray Estes, “Baha’i Faith: A Message of Unity and Light for the World”

7:00 Dinner, music, socializing

Flyer for Baha’i New Year Celebration

A talk by Dr. Bruce Hrivnak, VU Department of Physics and Astronomy

Friday, March 20, 7:30 pm in Neils Science Center 224

One of the most interesting and potentially important discoveries of astronomy over the past 15 years is that of planets around other stars.  Although the existence of such planets had been speculated on over the past several hundred years and searched for over the past 50 years, it is only recently that they have been found.  Now over 300 are known.  Almost all of these are giant gas planets, like Jupiter in our solar system, with orbital and physical properties much different than Earth’s.  New methods are allowing us to detect smaller, rocky planets and the search is now on for the existence of Earth-like planets.  In this talk, we will discuss the discovery and properties of these extra-solar planets.

8:30-9:30 Telescope viewing at VU Observatory (or Planetarium show in NSC if cloudy)

PS – this is a switch in the scheduled talks between March 20 and April 3.

Flyer for “Planets Around Other Stars”

When:  March 19, 6:30 p.m.
Where:  Christ College Refectory

Dr. David Munoz, of Colorado School of Mines, will speak about their Humanitarian Engineering Program which aims to develop students with engineering expertise who also understand the challenges in helping disadvantaged communities around the world.   Dr. Munoz will describe projects that his students have worked on, including providing a water system for a rural Honduran village.  He will discuss the need to understand the socio-cultural factors of a project.

A leader in contemporary thought about the nature of Christian ethics will present a March 23 lecture at Valparaiso University that will explore a new version of divine command theory.

Dr. John Hare, author of “The Moral Gap” and other books on Christian ethics, will discuss “Divine Command Theory” at 4:30 p.m. in Mueller Hall on campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

During his career as a scholar, Dr. Hare’s work has focused on developing a comprehensive vision of the relationships among God, religion and morality that is consistent with both the Christian tradition and the main insights of 20th century philosophical ethics. A new version of divine command theory – a view that morality is dependent upon God and that moral obligation consists in obedience of God’s commands – is part of that vision.

Dr. Hare’s “The Moral Gap” develops an account of the need for God’s assistance in meeting the moral demand of which God is the source. His other books include “God’s Call,” in which he discusses the divine command theory of morality, and “Why Bother Being Good?” an examination of whether people can be morally good and why they should be morally good.

The lecture is co-sponsored by Valparaiso’s Departments of Philosophy and Theology.

http://www.valpo.edu/news/news.php?releaseId=3965

This Wednesday, Prof. Blacker-Hanson, Department of History, will be hosting an event as part of the year-long FOLA  (Focus on Latin America) activities. She’ll give a short introductory lecture on the history of education and teacher-activism in Modern Mexico, and then there will be a 60 minute film, “Granito de Arena,” which depicts government efforts to privatize education and teacher and community response to it.

This should be of particular interest to possible education majors and anyone interested in social activism and Latin America!

Wednesday, March 18 at 7 pm, in Kallay-Christopher 112