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K-State Today

December 2, 2013

Successful student, professor dinner talk series wraps up tonight with event featuring Provost Mason

Submitted by Communications and Marketing

Phil Nel

Learning doesn’t always have to happen behind a desk.

That’s the idea behind Beyond the Classroom, an informal and fun way for students to interact with some of K-State’s most esteemed and popular professors over dinner and an educational activity in a select residence hall.

The last Beyond the Classroom event of the semester is tonight from 6–8 p.m. Provost and senior vice president April Mason will share dinner with students at the Honor’s House, 1930 College Heights Road, and then present on “Hunger, Food Security and Nutrition; What Can We Do." Anyone interested in attending the event is invited.

The series is sponsored by K-State First, the university’s first-year student program, and the university's housing and dining services. 

Kansas Professor of the Year and K-State First director Greg Eiselein says the Beyond the Classroom series is a way to encourage learning as a social process — and one that doesn’t have to take place behind a desk.

Each of the four Beyond the Classroom events were attended by dozens of students and participants who enjoyed their experience, Eiselein siad.

History professor Charles Sanders, one of the Beyond the Classroom speakers, enjoyed his trip to the dining and residence hall.

“The K-State First program offers incoming students and their professors a unique opportunity to interact closely,” Sanders said. “And it does this in a learning environment that is informative, innovative, interesting and, by the way, fun! What other program offers all that to a student, or, for that matter, to a professor?"

Other distinguished faculty who have presented this year include: Mary Tolar, director of the School of Leadership Studies; Phil Nel, professor of English; and Lisa Tatonetti, associate professor of English. They have presented on topics ranging from 1980s' pop culture to the representation and reality of American Indian life.

Topics in the spring lineup include: sexual identity, race and sports, spirituality and culture. Upcoming events will be announced on K-State Today and on K-State First’s on Facebook/Twitter.