Values, Ideas and the Arts presentations enhance the Manchester Core program in the liberal arts through cultural exposure, artistic experience and intellectual enrichment. VIA features speakers, musicians and dramatic performers from the University community, across the country and around the globe. Manchester students earn academic credit through participation.
The goals of the VIA program are to:
- broaden students' cultural experiences,
- enrich students intellectually and aesthetically,
- provide opportunities to experience the arts,
- promote dialogue about ideas and values, and
- embody in its programs the values expressed in the University Mission.
Events last about an hour unless noted otherwise. Members of the University community and the public are also invited to attend all VIA events. Admission is free unless otherwise noted.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance & Rededication Ceremony
Dr. King's Blue Jeans: White Supremacy, Christianity, and God's Delivering Presence
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 7 p.m. Cordier Auditorium and Facebook
Presenter: The Rev. Dr. Drew Hart is a theology professor, church anti-racism leader, and a social change practitioner. He is currently an assistant professor of theology at Messiah University. The program, in the spirit of Dr. King’s own public witness, will encourage us towards prophetic and grassroots action committed to justice for oppressed and vulnerable people.
Through the use of story, theology, scripture, history, social change theory, and personal experience the audience will be invited to put on their blue jeans and join God's delivering presence for justice in solidarity with all those who have had their ‘backs against the wall.’
Spring Convocation
Finding Your Voice at Manchester (presentation cancelled) Discussion Week
Keeping Your Cool in a Heating World
11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 13, Cordier Auditorium
Presenter: Sarah Jaquette Ray
As we prepare for Discussion Day, Ray will talk about how a new generation of activists is changing the climate movement and why it’s important that we know how to cultivate intellectual and existential skillfulness in our advocacy, no matter what type of work we do.
Event organizer: Katy Gray Brown
Discussion Day
Imagine Justice, Transformation and Liberation
10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, Cordier AuditoriumPresenter: Denise Abdul-Rahman
Co-manager of the Alignment Initiative, for The Chisholm Legacy Project, Abdul-Rahman is a leader in organizing for just energy, shutting down coal, and expanding solar access for low-income families. She advocates for the reducing harmful emissions – particularly greenhouse gases, advancing energy efficiency and clean energy, and strengthening community resilience and livability.
Organizers: Discussion Day Committee
Becoming Miss Amazing
11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 20, Cordier Auditorium
Presenters: Jyl and Cindy Riemersma
Jyl and Cindy Riemersma will speak about living with and loving someone with Glut1, Glucose Transporter Type-1 Deficiency Syndrome. Jyl is Miss Amazing IN and an undergraduate in Huntington University's ABLE program.
On Death and Dying
11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 27, Cordier Auditorium and Facebook livestream
Presenter: Dr. Nick Salupo
Dr. Nick Salupo, Manchester Class of 2013, treated patients in the intensive care unit during the peaks of both the Delta and Omicron COVID-19 surges and witnessed the deaths and dying. Death and dying are vital to the experience of being fully human. This lecture will focus on what it means to die with dignity and how we can strengthen our relationship with life through demystifying death. Salupo is currently the chief internal medicine resident at Grandview Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, and will be starting a fellowship in nephrology at the Cleveland Clinic in July 2023.
Event organizer: Beate Gilliar
Religious Traditions and the Human Right to Housing
11 a.m. Monday, March 6, Cordier Auditorium and Facebook livestream
Presenter: Fran Quigley
Human rights activist Fran Quigley, clinical professor at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, discusses housing problems that the United States faces and responds to these problems by looking at a better path: Social housing.
He also explains how religious communites can help housing be seen as a human right..
Organizers:
Katy Gray Brown and
Kendall BrownUnderstanding Concussions: Insight into the "Invisible Injury"
11 a.m. Monday, March 13, Cordier Auditorium and Facebook livestream
Presenter: Dr. Josh Ricker
Concussions are a common injury that largely goes unseen until the effects of the damage have accumulated.
Affiliated with Wright State University-Lake Campus, Dr. Josh Ricker specializes in traumatic brain injury and its effects on emotion and cognition.
Primary organizer:
Mark McCoy
We Are Primates, After All
11 a.m. Monday, March 27, Cordier Auditorium
Presenter: Ella Brown
Biological anthropologist Ella Brown (Ph.D. student, University of Michigan) will present her fieldwork with slow lorises and orangutans in Indonesia, as well as her most recent research with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.
Her research questions surround primate behavior, development, and conservation, with the ultimate goals of unraveling our shared evolutionary history and helping to protect these endangered species.
Primary organizer: Beate Gilliar
Hashtag Activism: Using social media to start conversation, impact change around sexual violence
11 a.m. Monday, April 3, Cordier Auditorium
Presenter: KáLyn Banks Coghill
The discussion led by KáLyn Banks Coghill will focus on Hashtag Activism, Digital Alchemy (Moya Bailey), and the #MeToo movement past the hashtag. Pursuing a doctoral degree in media, art and text at Virginia Commonwealth University, their research focuses on the misogynoir in digital spaces that impact Black women and Black nonbinary, agender, and gender-variant folks.
Primary organizer: Jennifer Cheek
Domestic Violence 101
11 a.m. Monday, April 10, Cordier Auditorium
Presenter: Cathy Maggart
Cathy Maggart is the domestic volence coordinator for the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. She will cover several topics on domestic violence, including basic information on domestic violence, dating power and control, cyberstalking, stalking, and dating online with students. Learn about red flags for unhealthy relationships and learn what you can do if you or someone you care about finds themselves in an abusive relationship.
Primary organizer: Jennifer Cheek
Queering the Gospel
11 a.m. Monday, April 17, Cordier Auditorium
Presenters: Brian Murphy and Shay Kearn of the
Queer Theology podcast
In this talk they will explore different readings of the Bible through queer perspectives, how they empower queer and trans folks, and how they’ll lead to deeper empathy and more insight for straight/cisgender folks as well.
Primary organizers: Kendall Brown and Katy Gray Brown
A Critique of the Anti-Trafficking Social Movement
11 a.m. Monday, April 24, Cordier Auditorium
Presenter: Jennifer Cheek
As official trafficking incidents rise, organizations are created to meet the needs of trafficking survivors. These organizations and programs vary widely in quantity and quality of services. One of the most consistent and prominent findings is the lack of services for survivors, particularly the lack of bed space. Jennifer Cheek, Manchester criminology and sociology instructor, explores what it means for three evangelical anti-trafficking programs in the Midwest to deliver services to sex trafficking victims utilizing ethnographic methods, including interviews and content analysis. Her analysis takes a critical perspective focusing on how religion, gender, race, and class variations affect program delivery.
The Whole Story on Stress in College
8 p.m. Wednesday, April 26
Watch party in person at Wine Recital Hall and and Facebook livestream
This presantation is part of a virtual and in-person storytelling series bringing education and resources to college communities nationwide by leading mental health advocates and organizations. April is National Stress Awareness Month, raising awareness about the negative impact of stress.
Organizers: Counseling Services and Athletics
The Otho Winger Experience: The Final Show
11 a.m. Monday, May 1, Cordier Auditorium
The Otho Winger Experience, Manchester's rock band in residence since 2005, is composed of faculty, staff, students, and members of the North Manchester community. They play live music from throughout the history of rock. The Final Show will feature the band playing fan favorites from its 17-year career. Greg Clark, Mark Bryant, Dave Hicks, Dan Chudzynski, Katharine Ings, Judd Case, Jonathan Watson and Toby Tobias are the principal musicians. Ings, Jena Oke, and Kate Eisenbise-Crell will dance. Supporting instrumentation will come from Scott Humphries and members of the
Spartan Pride Marching Band.
Education panel, interactive session
11 a.m. Monday, May 8, Cordier Auditorium
Presenters: Manchester education majors and alumni
Primary organizers: Heather Schilling and Stacy Stetzel