The Power of Story

With the opening of the new Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) at Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, The Honors College has endeavored to sponsor a series of “mini-lectures” on-campus. After a yearlong effort by the Academic Affairs—Student Affairs Collaborative Committee (appointed by Chancellor Potts), an overarching theme for the Honors Living-Learning Community was chosen. “The Power of Story” captures not only the spirit of the ASU Centennial Celebration and Jonesboro’s Sesquicentennial, it also provides an opportunity to encourage individuals to tell their own “story.”

The new Honors Living-Learning Community is home to more than 200 Honors students at ASU-J. The complex is comprised of three residence halls for both Honors freshmen and upperclass students along with a smart classroom building for Honors classes and special events.

The Honors College has a slate of speakers for the Fall 2009 semester that showcases three faculty scholars on the ASU-J campus. The series of “mini-lectures” provides a forum for the audience to intimately connect to the speaker and his or her story. ASU-J has a treasure trove of faculty and staff that have interesting personal and professional stories to tell. Similarly, in Spring 2010 the slate of speakers will focus on members of the Jonesboro community that have a “story” to tell.

The first “Power of Story” event on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 7:00pm features Dr. Troy Adams, Professor of Sociology and Department Chair for Criminology, Sociology, & Geography. Dr. Adams will chronicle his youth growing up in Michigan and his journey to a life in academia in his presentation called “The Non-Traditional Scholar.”

The second speaker will be Dr. Malathi Srivatsan on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. In “Breaking Shackles: The Power of Education,” she will share an account of her childhood in India and what brought her to the United States and ultimately ASU. Dr. Srivatsan is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and is a researcher with the Arkansas Biosciences Institute.

The final mini-lecture for the fall semester on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 is entitled “The Unapologetic Southerner.” Dr. Will McLean, Associate Professor of Political Science and Program Director for the Master of Public Administration, will focus this Election Day event on southern politics and southern distinctiveness.

All HLLC “mini-lectures” will be held in the HLLC Smart Classroom Building at 7:00pm. The HLLC is located between Banks and Danner off of University Loop East. The classroom building is next to the parking lot near Banks Street.

Our culminating event for “The Power of Story” will be the Honors Lecture of the Year on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. This year we will be hosting Annette Simmons who is the President of Group Process Consulting and author of several books, including “The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling” (named as one of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time) and “Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins.” Simmons is a powerful keynote speaker and popular consultant evidenced by her client list which includes the Brookings Institution, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Microsoft, Time, Inc., NASA, the World Bank, Best Buy, and the YMCA. She has appeared on CNBC’s Power Lunch, NPR’s Market Watch, and she has been quoted in Fortune, Working Woman, Harvard Business Review, The Chicago Tribune, and The Washington Post.

“The Power of Story” has the potential to touch many lives at ASU. These events are open to the entire ASU and Jonesboro communities, not just Honors students. The chance to engage the speakers and one another will help ASU begin to write the institution’s “story” for the next 100 years.