Outreach Programs

Faculty Speakers Bureau

Reed College facilitates a Speakers Bureau of faculty members who are available to address topics of interest and expertise to Portland area high school classes and clubs.   High School teachers should contact Barbara Amen, director of special programs (503-777-7259), to submit requests for a faculty speaker. The director will take the teacher's information, contact the faculty member about availability, and then notify the teacher accordingly. While we will accommodate as many requests as possible, schedule conflicts and demands upon a faculty member's time make it difficult to complete all requests. Each faculty member generally is available for no more than two presentations during the academic year, and will make one presentation at the designated schools (occasionally high school teachers combine multiple classes in the same subject for the presentation). Fall break (October 17-21), January, Reed's spring break (March 12-16), and late May are times when Reed faculty often have the most flexibility to leave campus during high school hours.

High School teachers interested in inviting a Reed faculty member come to their class or after school club can facilitate the request process by providing the following information when making initial contact with the special programs office:

            1)  Name of teacher requesting a speaker
            2)  High School
            3)  Phone number and best time to reach teacher (including home number,
                  if appropriate)
            4)  Reed faculty member requested
            5)  Topic to be addressed
            6)  Class/group to be addressed
            7)  Year of students and size of class/group
            8)  Date and time frame for faculty member to address the class
                  (flexibility works best!)


2011-2012 list of available faculty members by department.  It also may be possible to accommodate requests for additional Reed faculty members, or requests for topics other than those listed.

Art

The Open Gallery program is a visual arts outreach program. It coordinates presentations on the current exhibitions on-site at the Cooley Gallery or at the schools.

September 6—December 7, 2011    Museion: One Hundred Years of Generosity
                                                     (The Reed College Art Collection)

Biology

Professor David Dalton

1)  Pacific NW Forests
2)  Biological Legacy of Lewis and Clark

Professor Jay Mellies
1)  How phage speed bacterial evolution and contribute to human disease
2)  A discussion of E. coli disease outbreaks associated with fresh produce

Classics

Professor Walter Englert

1)  Greek Tragedy          
2)  Homer (Iliad and Odyssey)   
3)  Greek and Roman literature and philosophy

Professor Ellen Millender

1)  Greek and Roman history
2)  Ancient Sparta
3)  Women in the Ancient World
4)  The benefits of a liberal arts college; Classics as a college major

Economics

Professor Denise Hare

1)  China's economic policy and development: what it means for China and for the rest of the world

English

Professor Michael Faletra

1)  Any medieval topic: Chaucer, Beowulf, King Arthur
2)  Shakespeare

Linguistics

Professor Matt Pearson     (Available only February through May)

1)  "What is Linguistics?" General presentation on topics such as speakers' unconscious knowledge of their language and how linguists investigate it, careers in linguistics, etc.

Literature/Literary Studies

Professor Jan Mieszkowski   

1)  Why are literary studies important?
2) What is the broader historical, social, and political signifance of literature and literary studies?

Mathematics

Professor Irena Swanson     

1)  Calendars and modular arithmetic  (history of calendars; the usual and unusual arithmetic behind them; on what day of the week were you born?)                   
2)  Perspective drawing and projective geometry
3)  Tessellations of the plane (with group theory or quilting)

Physics

Professor Lucas Illing    (Available only October through December)

1)  Light and Optics

Professor David Griffiths

1)  Special relativity
2)  Elementary particles
3)  Quantum mechanics

Political Science

Professor Tamara Metz    

1)  Current debates on marriage and the family

Psychology

Professor Kristen Anderson (also a trained special educator and clinical psychologist)

 1)  Adolescents and stress/coping
2)  Adolescent alcohol and drug use disorders
3)  Eating disorders
4)  Teacher in-service workshop

Professor Enriqueta Canseco-Gonzalez     (January only)

1)  Language acquisition
2)  Language and the brain: evidence from brain-damaged patients
3)  Sign language and bilingualism

Professor Cara Laney

1)  False memory
2)  Psychology and law

Professor Kathy Oleson

1)  Social psychology
2)  Stereotyping and prejudice
3)  The self
4)  Interpersonal perception and relationships

Spanish

Professor Oscar Fernandez    (In Spanish or English)

1) Latino retention rates in high school
2)  Latinos and higher education: pointers on how to make the college experience easier
3)  Gender and sexuality in Latin American fiction