Upcoming Faculty Commons and CCSN Conference, August 20

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A Common Call: A Conference on Christ and Communication
Sponsored by Faculty Commons and the Christianity and Communication Studies Network

Register here.

We are excited to invite you to an August 20, 2021, Zoom conference on Christ and Communication.

This conference is being co-sponsored by Faculty Commons (FC), a ministry of Cru, which outreaches with professors and graduate students in public universities; and the Christianity & Communication Studies Network (CCSN, www.theccsn.com), an organization focused on faith-learning integration resources and training in the field of communication.

While the “Common Call,” a faculty conference offered through Faculty Commons, has taken place for over a decade, this will be the first time the conference is specifically designed for one academic discipline—Communication. We will be exploring how our faith is involved in and expressed through our teaching, research, and administration. We will discuss how Jesus Christ can be revealed in and through our lives in the university and beyond.

In 1948, Jacques Ellul wrote the book, The Presence of the Kingdom. This book formed the foundation of his over fifty books on technology, propaganda, and theology. This upcoming conference will consider how Christ’s presence can influence our lives, our classrooms, our scholarship, and beyond. This will be an exciting time to:

• Develop Kingdom relationships.

• Consider how we can develop a persuasive Christian Presence with our students, colleagues, universities, and the world.

• Encourage Kingdom based scholarly and professional collaborations.

• Garner Kingdom resources.

The half-day virtual (Zoom) conference is Friday, August 20, noon-3:30 EST.

Clifford Christians (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana), Steve Beebe (Texas State University), and Geri Forsberg (Western Washington University), are our featured speakers. Robert Woods from the CCSN will help to facilitate the event. There will be small group discussions spread throughout the conference that provide great opportunities for learning and networking with other Christian faculty and students around the globe.

More Information About our Speakers:

Clifford G. Christians (Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign) is Research Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, and also a Professor of Journalism and a Professor of Media Studies. He has been a visiting scholar in philosophical ethics at Princeton University and in social ethics at the University of Chicago and a PEW scholar at Oxford University. He is a coauthor of Responsibility in Mass Communication; Jacques Ellul: Interpretive Essays; Good News: Social Ethics and the Press; Communication Ethics and Universal Values; Moral Engagement in Public Life: Theorists for Contemporary Ethics; The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics; Ethical Communication: Moral Stances in Human Dialogue; Normative Theories of the Media; Key Concepts in Critical Cultural Studies; Communication Theories in a Multicultural World; and The Ethics of Intercultural Communication. Learn more about Dr. Christians here: https://media.illinois.edu/icr/christians-clifford

Steven A. Beebe (Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia) is Regents’ and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Texas State University. He served as Chair of his department at Texas State for 28 years and concurrently as Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication for 25 years. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas State he was a tenured member of the Communication faculty at the University of Miami for 10 years. He is author and co-author of fourteen books (with editions totaling more than 75 books) that have been used at hundreds of colleges and universities (including international, Canadian, Russian and Chinese editions) by several million students throughout the world. Steve’s research focuses on instructional communication and communication skill development. He is former president of the National Communication Association. His recent book, C. S. Lewis and the Craft of Communication (Peter Lang, 2020) reveals five communication principles that explain Lewis’s success as a communicator. Beebe made international headlines when conducting research at Oxford University when he discovered an unpublished manuscript written by C. S. Lewis that was the partial opening chapter of a book that was to be co-authored with J. R. R. Tolkien called Language and Human Nature. In 2016 and 2019 he also discovered unknown and unpublished poems by Lewis in the Oxford University Bodleian Library. Learn more about Dr. Beebe here: https://www.commstudies.txstate.edu/people/faculty/beebe.html

Geri E. Forsberg (Ph.D., New York University, M.A. International School of Theology) Geri has served with CRU since 1975. Currently, Geri is a faculty fellow with Faculty Commons (CRU) and serves on the English Department faculty at Western Washington University. She serves on the board of directors for the International Jacques Ellul Society, the editorial board of New Explorations: Studies in Culture and Communication (NExJ) and Second Nature: An online journal for critical thinking about technology and new media in light of the Christian tradition. Her more recent writings have focused on the relationship between the faith of our communication founders and communication studies. Learn more about Dr. Forsberg here: https://chss.wwu.edu/english/forsbeg

Robert H. Woods Jr. (J.D., Ph.D., Regent University) served as a professor of communication and media at Spring Arbor University for 20 years. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Christianity and Communication Studies Network (CCSN) (www.theccsn.com, CCSN on Facebook), a network providing resources and training on faith-learning integration in the field of communication. He has served as the President of the Religious Communication Association (RCA), and was named Scholar of the Year by RCA in 2013. His most recent book is with Kevin Healey (University of New Hampshire), addressing Digital Proverbs and the Moral Catechism of Silicon Valley (Routledge, 2019), received the 2020 Book of the Year Award by the RCA. His forthcoming books include Everyday Sabbath: How to Lead Your Dance with Media and Technology in Mindful and Sacred Ways, and Professing Christ: Christian Tradition and Teaching in Public Universities. He is currently co-editing a special issue on civility for the Christian Scholar’s Review with Tim Muehlhoff and Rick Langer from Biola University and the Winsome Conviction Project. Learn more about Dr. Woods here: http://www.roberthwoodsjr.com/

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