Arts and Entertainment

Penn State Laureate Susan Russell to speak at Penn State Behrend

'A Musician, an Engineer, and a Physicist Walk into a Bar…'

As this year’s laureate, Susan Russell, an associate professor in the School of Theatre at Penn State’s University Park campus, has decided to focus on dignity. Credit: Penn State / Penn StateCreative Commons

As the 2014-15 Penn State laureate, Susan Russell is touring the state to promote dignity. On Friday, April 3, she brings that tour to Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.

Russell’s presentation, “A Musician, an Engineer, and a Physicist Walk into a Bar… A Conversation with Dr. Susan Russell,” takes place at 12:15 p.m. in in the Reed Auditorium of the college’s Reed Union Building. It is free and open to the public.

The Penn State laureate, an honorary position established in 2008, is a full-time faculty member in the humanities or the arts who is assigned half-time for one academic year to bring an enhanced level of social, cultural, artistic and human perspective and awareness to a broad array of audiences. As this year’s laureate, Russell, an associate professor in the School of Theatre at Penn State’s University Park campus, has decided to focus on dignity.

She invites members of the Penn State community to join the conversation by uploading examples of dignity in music, movies, books, images, texts, speeches and videos to the website dignity.psu.edu.

Russell is the author of “Body Language: Stop the Violence/Start the Conversation” and “Body Language: Cultural Conversations Reaching Out and Reaching In,” and both texts are supplied free of charge to school systems and community organizations. She empowers young adults to use performance to begin conversations on serious topics, including sexual assault, body shaming, LGBTQ bullying and suicide. For additional information on her presentation, contact Sarah Whitney at sew17@psu.edu.

Last Updated March 17, 2015

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