Campus Currents

Monday, Oct. 17, 2022
Heineman Ecumenical & Cultural Center at 4:30 PM

Jill McDonough is a cheerful queer writer who works in academic and carceral spaces. As part of 2022 Alan Feldman Week of Poetry, she will be reading from her sixth book of poems, American Treasure, which goes from the homes enslaved Americans built for the founding fathers to juvenile facilities in her Boston neighborhood.

Homecoming & Family Weekend is scheduled for Friday, October 28th, and Saturday, October 29th. Several fun events are on tap for students, families and alumni!

Highlights are below - visit www.framingham.edu/homecoming for full details!

Friday, October 28

• Family & Guest Reception
• The McCarthy Homecoming Takeover with giveaways
• Field Hockey vs. Fitchburg State
• The annual Moonlight Breakfast

Saturday, October 29

• Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of FSU Football
• Football vs. Mass Maritime
• Alumni Endzone
• Alumni of Color Network Gathering
• Men’s Soccer vs. Fitchburg State
• Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Southern New Hampshire University
• A meeting of the fRAMily Network

FSU BIPOC Faculty Discuss Young Nerds of Color
Wednesday, October 19, 4:30PM - 6:00PM

Members of the Framingham State University community are welcome to attend a panel discussion prompted by the themes of Young Nerds of Color in the FSU Planetarium during Massachusetts STEM Week 2022!

Also take advantage of several opportunities to screen the performance this week, leading up to our special panel discussion with the producers and cast members on November 9th!

Young Nerds of Color premiered last spring at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA. The play is an interdisciplinary project, based on interviews with scientists and students of science who come from backgrounds underrepresented in professional science: people of color, women, ethnic minorities, and people from low income families. The play provides a case study in how interviews can be used to bridge the humanities and science. The goal of this project is to provide audiences with a new approach to address issues of systemic racism, especially in fields like the sciences and theater, where dominant groups have historically codified who can practice the discipline and how.

Learn more at: https://cm-center.org/event/ynocpanel

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Center for Inclusive Excellence, O’Connor Hall

On September 16, 2022, 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini died in Tehran while in the custody of the morality police. She had been arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly and taken to a “re-education” center. Officials claim Mahsa died of a heart attack, but her skull was fractured and she was beaten.

This began a series of ongoing protests starting the day of her death. In almost every city in Iran, fearless people, risking their lives and safety, are protesting in Mahsa’s name – women, men, and children alike. All are calling for “zan, zendegi, azadi” (women, life, freedom).

Learn more during a discussion led by FSU History majors.

By Leighah Beausoleil, Publications Intern

Adam Sutton was familiar with the Endicott building where he was meant to hold a lecture on communication to emergency room doctors.

Sitting in his car outside the building waiting for everyone to arrive, Sutton, a professional leadership coach, was confused by the lack of attendance.

Then, panic began to fill him - he was at the wrong location, he told an audience of FSU members at the “Emotional Wellness and Book Discussion Practice,” that is part of this year’s Arts & Ideas Series.

When he finally made it to the other Endicott building, he was 30 to 45 minutes late to the lecture.

Noticing the approximately 70 doctors in the room were unhappy with him, he began to tell jokes and even stood up on a table.

“There was not a smile in the group,” he said.

Finally after breaking off into pairs he got the room talking, but he admits, “I was sick to my stomach the entire time.”

This happened approximately 15 years ago , according to Sutton, leadership coach, and represents a moment in his life where he learned from a failure.

The story comes from one of the exercises Sutton led in the McCarthy Center Alumni Room for students, faculty and staff. These discussion groups are aimed at exploring the book, “The 7 Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance” by Gina LaRoche and Jennifer Cohen.

This group will meet throughout the month of October on Thursdays from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Framingham State community members are still encouraged to join.

Sutton discussed with the group how normalized it is for people to constantly feel like they should want more and they should be doing more.

“We are enough and we have enough and we forget that 4,700 times a day because we're faced with an opposite message,” he said.

The 90-minute meeting is focused on practicing and discussing concepts from the book and allowing people the opportunity to get in touch with their emotional wellness.

Sutton said these meetings allow people to have conversations, connect with people, and leave with some “practical tools” that they can apply to their everyday life.

In closing, Sutton led the group through a mindfulness exercise that encouraged them to close their eyes, breath, and “just give yourself a little bit of attention, a little quiet away and apart from the world, and perhaps offer yourself a lesson, a thought of thanks, something positive you can say to yourself about who you are and whatever you're becoming.”

A Conversation with FSU President Dr. Nancy Niemi: The Once and Future Power of Education at FSU

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 10 a.m.
Alumni House, 42 Adams Road

The first Coffee and Conversations talk of 2022-2023 introduces Framingham State University’s
new president, Dr. Nancy Niemi, to alumni and the greater FSU community. Please join us in a
conversation with Dr. Niemi and her vision for FSU.

Dr. Niemi became President of Framingham State University on July 1, 2022. As an elected
school board member and middle school teacher, through college professor, department chair,
and more, her experience in education is wide and deep. Her previous positions include:
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore,
Inaugural Director of Faculty Teaching Initiatives at Yale University, Professor and Chair of
Education at the University of New Haven. She’s published widely on social equity and on curriculum and instruction.

IAFSA’s Coffee and Conversations speaker/conversation series is a forum for fellowship amongst
FSC/FSU alumni and the larger community. It’s a way for alumni to connect with interesting
speakers and engage in conversation in the relaxed setting at Alumni House as well as via
Zoom.

The speakers, alumni or those with ties to FSC/FSU, introduce a topic they are passionate about
and speak for 15-20 minutes and then field questions and/or there is general discussion about
the topic among the attendees. Sessions last about an hour

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022

Heineman Ecumenical & Cultural Center at 4:30 p.m.

Co-authors Kelly Kolodny and Mary-Lou Breitborde will discuss their book, Teacher Preparation in the United States: History, Current Conditions, and Policy. A Q& A session will follow their presentation.

Professor Audrey Kali's documentary film Farm and Red Moon will be screened in November at Tufts University followed by a keynote discussion with world-renowned author Dr. Temple Grandin.

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6 p.m.
Jaharis Auditorium, Tufts University, 150 Harrison Avenue Boston, MA

This event is free and open to the community but you must register in advance.

Farm and Red Moon follows Professor Audrey Kali as she visits farms and slaughterhouses and meets with experts to reveal the ambiguous moral underbelly of humane animal slaughter. But what starts out as a concern for animals becomes a story about people. What she once saw as senseless acts of violence, she understands as a complicated agricultural system, pursued by decent people fully cognizant of the contradictions and complexity of their actions.

Dr. Temple Grandin is a world-renowned author and prominent spokesperson for the humane treatment of livestock and for the neurodiversity movement. She is currently a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University. In addition to authoring numerous scientific papers on animal behavior, she has published several books related to the understanding of autism. Time magazine honored her as one the most influential people in 2010 and in 2017 she was named to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

This screening is sponsored by Tufts University, Framingham State University, and Northeastern University.

Join us for Food Day, an educational fair presented by Community Nutrition students and Sodexo Dining Services.

Tuesday, Nov. 1st, from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
McCarthy Center Dining Commons

Booths will be up on Holistic Nutrition and Physical Activity; Debunking Social Media Myths; and Food Waste Reduction. There will be games, raffle prizes, samples, recipes and more!

For more information, contact Megan Mayer at mmayer1@framingham.edu.

Now more than ever, finding more joy and sustaining positive focus requires us to reassess and rewrite the stories we tell about ourselves and each other. In collaboration with the Adam Sutton Group, we are offering interactive conversations that explore concepts presented in the book The Seven Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance by Gina LaRoche and Jennifer Cohen. The three session book discussion group will focus on practical strategies for defining what is truly “enough” for us personally and professionally, and how to help each other live our best lives yet!

All events will take place between 3:30 and 5 p.m.:

October 20: Alumni Room - Open to Faculty & Staff
October 27: Alumni Room - Open to Faculty & Staff

This event is sponsored by the Arts and Ideas series, the Office of the Vice President for Academic Enhancement, and FSU’s Campus Professional Development Program.

A limited number of copies of The Seven Laws of Enough are available on a first come, first serve basis, and can be picked up in Dwight Hall, room 306.

Brazilian American Center: BRACE
Address: 560 Waverly St, Framingham, MA 01702
Time: 1 pm - 4:30 pm
Date: Sunday, November 6th, 2022

A special event open to the community and prospective MetroWest Early Start Scholars - meet professors, learn about career pathways and enjoy raffles and free food.

October 25 at 5:30 p.m.

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkdeyqrzgqE9GbhvhLcwGGtIndwVzXPfAM

Kaiden Girouard, MPH, CHES, is a FSU Food and Nutrition grad who went on to earn an MPH and his Certified Health Education Specialist certification. He now works as a Heath Promotion Specialist at Ithaca College and will be speaking about his educational and career journey in this remote Zoom session.