October 2010 Schedule

7:00-9:00 PM, Oct. 21, First Amendment Room
Opening Banquet – A Conversation about National Conversations
A social gathering with vintage music by Patrel, hours devours, dinner and dessert complemented by a brief overview of National Conversations. Dr. Henry Smith (President of Indiana Wesleyan University) will serve as the event host, and the founding visionary, Dr. David Wright, will provide a glimpse of the genesis and future of the event. The prolific Editor of Books & Culture, John Wilson, will offer reflections to close the evening. Some of the panelists will be among our guests, and co-hosts include Chris Young (Director of the Arington Foundation), Mark Galli (Senior Managing Editor, Christianity Today), JoAnne Lyon (founder of World Hope), John Wilson, Jay Hein (Pres., The Sagamore Institute and former Dir. of the White House OFBCI), and Jeanelle Adamak (Senior VP, WFYI Studios). This is invitation only, and attire is business formal.

The following session is a live webcast, with broadcast networks also invited. All of the following sessions will be webcast, and broadcast pursuant to the networks’ requests. All times are EST. Audiences at the event are invitation only due to space limitations. Media representatives please contact the Dir. of Media Relations.

10:00-11:30 AM, Oct. 22, Holeman Lounge
Main Panel for National Conversations—“Education in Crisis: The Unasked Questions”
Moderated by one of the leading voices in higher education, Scott Jaschik and important national voices will discuss some of education’s pressing needs and possible responses. These issues stretch across many sectors and age divisions of education and the community at-large; and the panel is composed to represent many of these. Joining Scott Jaschik (InsideHigherEd.com) will be Michael Gerson (Washington Post), Naomi Schaefer Riley (author and national writer), Phil Gardner (Employment Research Institute, MSU), Holiday Hart McKiernan (Lumina Foundation), Deborah Santiago (EdExcelencia), Mark C. Taylor (Crisis on Campus), and Gail Mellow (LaGuardia Community College). Jay Hein (Sagamore Institute) will moderate the Q & A.

12:00-1:00 PM, Oct. 22, Holeman Lounge
“Enriching the Perspective on the Educational Crisis in America” – Reflections on “Education in Crisis”
Scott Jaschik will facilitate this distinguished panel as it reflects on an engaging discussion on education . As the editor of InsideHigherEd.com, Jaschik interacts regularly with some of the 800,000 monthly readers on a wide variety of issues. Against this backdrop he’ll monitor the discussion among prominent contributors, including Alan Bjerga (National Press Club), Jeremie Kubicek (GiANT Impact), Lindsay Waters (Harvard University Press), Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen (The American University in Postsecular Age), and Mark Galli (Christianity Today).

1:30—3:00 PM, Oct. 22, Holeman Lounge
The University and the Public Square—Authors Discuss Their Books’ Connections to Education in Crisis
As the capstone event of National Conversations’ filmed sessions on “Education in Crisis,” this panel will highlight key authors currently engaged with national audiences. Jerry Pattengale will moderate and has three recent books on student success (Why I Teach, The Purpose-Guided Student, & Helping Sophomores Succeed). He will be joined by John Wilson, editor of Books & Culture. Its current issue reviews some of the books being discussed. Other authors include Mark C. Taylor, whose new release already attracted hundreds of blog responses on New York Time’s website (Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities). Naomi Schaefer Riley’s God on the Quad provides a fresh look at religious education, and her forthcoming book will likely draw considerable attention: The Faculty Lounges and Other Reasons You Won’t Get the Higher Education You Pay For. Tim Elmore’s Generation iY offers a profile of the students filling college courses—whether virtual or real. Lindsay Water’s Enemies of Promise challenges the current state of academic publishing, and a candid look at higher education’s priorities and scholarship standards. Jay Hein (Sagamore Institute) will moderate the Q & A. A sampling of the authors’ books will be given to the NPC audience.

Executive Director, National Conversations: jerry.pattengale@indwes.edu
Director of Media Relations, National Conversations: denise.ferguson@indwes.edu