SUPER Emerging Scholars

SUPER Emerging Scholars, a set on Flickr.

This week, high-school students from across the state will converge on Auburn to participate in the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s SUPER Emerging Scholars (SES) program. Dr. Kevin Roozen, associate professor in the Department of English, will lead the weeklong residential workshop for upper-level high-school students.

The SES institute will target students’ writing, reading and critical thinking abilities by investigating the rhetoric of public discussions addressing the purposes and functions of education. Through activities, lectures and field trips, SES participants will immerse themselves in conversations about learning and schooling, as well as their roles in building society and citizens. As they hone their skills by analyzing a variety of historical and contemporary texts, participants will write their own philosophy of learning, outlining their own understanding of what learning entails and the functions it can serve them now and in the future.

“I am particularly excited to host the first SES program to be held at Auburn University, and I am looking forward to it being a huge success,” says Roozen. “The guest scholars and I have worked hard to create an experience that will involve the students in the exciting intellectual work that can occur when scholarship addresses the public's pressing issues and concerns.”

The SES institute at Auburn University is the result of a partnership between the Alabama Humanities Foundation, Auburn University Outreach Office and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts.

For more information about the SUPER Emerging Scholars program, visit the Alabama Humanities Foundation website at www.ahf.net.

Come join the discussion!

Over the last year, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities has partnered with the Gnu’s Room, a local bookstore and coffee shop, to host music, film and literary events for the public. It has been a rich and rewarding experience to work closely with a community partner as dedicated as the Gnu’s Room.

This summer, the Center and the Gnu’s Room have formalized their partnership and committed to long-term collaboration. A logo representing their collaboration is in the works, and you will see it on future notices of joint programs.

According to Jay Lamar, director of the Center, this is “exactly the kind of work the Center was founded to do. As the center for engagement for the College of Liberal Arts, the Center’s mission is to create opportunities for dialogue and learning, link to the community and model how much more can been done collaboratively than alone. We are very excited and so pleased to be in partnership with the Gnu’s Room.”

This fall, the Gnu’s Room will become a nonprofit organization, supporting literacy, reading, publishing, the arts and community.

“The Gnu’s Room has always been about community,” notes owner Tina Tatum. “Becoming a nonprofit will help us make an even greater contribution by bringing more people and resources together to benefit our community.”

On Thursday, July 21, the Gnu’s Room will host a community listening session at 7:30 p.m. at the Boykin Community Center (400 Boykin Street, Auburn). Like a town hall meeting, the session will focus on ideas, hopes and dreams for the future of the Auburn-Opelika and Lee County area with plenty of time to share and discuss. Please feel free to download the flyer and spread the word to your friends and neighbors.

For more information

Contact The Gnu's Room at (334) 821-5550 or thegnusroom@gmail.com.