News Release

NORTH MANCHESTER — Manchester University will be offering more than a dozen programs in its “Values, Ideas and the Arts” series this fall. Presentations are at 11 a.m. Mondays in Cordier Auditorium on the North Manchester campus unless otherwise noted. They are free and open to the public.

Aug. 28: Manchester University President Stacy Young welcomes students to the 2023-24 academic year. The longtime opening convocation tradition features faculty in full regalia and the president’s welcoming address.

Sept. 4: Manchester alumnus Luke Bentley shares how he turned his degree into a passport for life as men’s head volleyball coach at William Penn University. He started the program there and led the team to a national championship.

Sept. 11: Author and podcast host Dave Zirin explores the politics of 21st century sports. Great controversy has been raised by the outspokenness of athletes on a host of social issues, especially racism; Zirin argues that we need to listen.

Sept. 18: North Manchester McKee Mortuary owner and Manchester alumnus Joe Egner and Andy Clayton, executive director and chief executive officer of the Indiana Funeral Directors Association, will speak about how their profession draws on a wide and deep array of duties and challenges, from composing obituaries to preparing counseling sessions on grief.

Sept. 25: Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Oscar Guerra screens his film “After Zero Tolerance,” the story of a Honduran family’s struggle to reunite after being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. The film will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Guerra.

Oct. 2: Nathan Harmon, founder of Your Life Speaks, explores the development of inner strength during college, emphasizing the importance of work ethics, priorities, being intentional, time management and a healthy balance.

Oct. 7: Tanglewood Marionettes presents “The Dragon King,” an underwater fantasy based on Chinese folklore, during homecoming at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, in Wine Recital Hall

Oct. 9: Drag queens Neon Van Ryan and Dixxie Licious perform, reflect on their coming-out experiences and speak about the politicization of drag. Both attended Manchester, and Neon Van Ryan is a graduate.

Oct. 11: Screening of “The Best We’ve Got,” a 90-minute documentary celebrating the life of Major League Baseball player and human rights activist Carl Erskine. The film highlights topics of race in the MLB and Erskine’s work with Special Olympics.

Oct. 23: Margaret Elwell, assistant professor of peace studies at Bethany Theological Seminary, digs into questions of the speeds of peace and violence for people concerned about enacting justice and building peace in our time.

Oct. 30: MU religious studies Associate Professor Justin Lasser and student members of Pagans of Manchester discuss misconceptions surrounding contemporary paganism and discrimination against those in the religion.

Nov. 6: Former political prisoner and veterinarian Denis Antonio Garcia Jiron and political asylum requester, sports writer and Manchester graduate Camilo Velasquez analyze the events that occurred in Nicaragua in 2018 and their repercussions on the country’s population, the migration, the U.S. policies toward the regime, the forced exile of more than 300 opponents of the regime, and possible solutions to a political coup.

Nov. 13: Professor Emeritus Leonard Williams reflects on his experience living and teaching in Doha, Qatar, for two years. Williams taught political science (pre-law) at Manchester from 1982 until he retired in 2020. He later accepted the Qatar position.

Nov. 27: Manchester Assistant Professor of Chemistry Kyle Watson, who is also a Manchester graduate, explores what life was like before antibiotics and the story of how penicillin was discovered and developed for common use, and looks at the future of antibiotic therapy.

Dec. 4: Performance by The Fort Wayne Dance Collective. Details to be determined.

For more information about individual presentations and their organizers, visit manchester.edu/academics/VIA.