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Session 47 - The Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program.
Topical, Oral session, Tuesday, June 09
Friars,
In Mississippi the Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureships are hosted by a growing consortium which currently has seven members; French Camp Academy and the Rainwater Observatory, a private high school and the state's largest observatory; Holmes Community College, a multicampus community college; Jackson Astronomical Association; Jackson State University, a historically black college or university (HBCU) and state comprehensive institution of higher learning with an urban mission; the Russell C. Davis Planetarium and the Davis Planetarium Foundation since renamed Mississippi Science Network, Inc., serving the whole state with a "Science is for Everyone" mission; St. Andrews Episcopal School, an urban high school; Tougaloo College, a private urban HCBU; and Mississippi Science Partnership. The Partnership, founded in 1990 as a novel alliance of state institutions of higher learning, a state school system and a major private corporation, with "the vision of improving the teaching and learning of mathematics and science for years to come in the state of Mississippi", leads the consortium and coordinates the Lectureships with the partners. The lecturer typically spends two days, gives public, free lectures at the college and school campuses and at the Planetarium, and holds formal and informal discussions with faculty, staff, students, amateur and professional astronomers in the region, and interested members of the public. The visit catalyzes improvements in astronomy education and research at the institutions. The Lectureships have also been an occasion for an informal meeting of the consortium where the members share their common joy and experiences in astronomy and its education and research.
