With the spread of COVID-19, everyday life is getting put on hold in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading. This includes Bluffton University’s Civic Engagement Day, which was scheduled for March 25, but has now been postponed.
Lamar Nisly, vice president and dean of academic affairs. Photo by Aubrey Bartel.
“At this point, we’re postponing the day, since we’re still hoping there may be some ways that we can still present some of the great sessions that were planned,” said Lamar Nisly, vice president and dean of academic affairs.
According to Nisly, the total of presentations planned for the day was in the mid to upper 20s.
Jackie Wyse-Rhodes, assistant professor of religion, was scheduled to be the 2019-20 lecturer. She would have presented “Deserving Happiness: A Wisdom Conversation” at Forum on March 24.
Assistant Professor of Religion Jackie Wyse-Rhodes Wit file photo
“I would have loved to have been able to give this talk to my home community, to Bluffton students and faculty,” Wyse-Rhodes said. “Who knows, it’d be great someday if I could give this talk here on another occasion.”
Wyse-Rhodes’ lecture focused on inviting a conversation about the theme of Civic Engagement Day, “Living Our Best Lives” with three wisdom books in the Bible, Proverbs, Jobs and Ecclesiastes, and their perspective on happiness.
“I’m hoping the main takeaway would have been that ancient people, the people who wrote the Bible and other ancient literature, that actually we can relate to questions they were asking,” Wyse-Rhodes said. “That they were still human beings, and the writings that they produced are still asking questions that are relevant and valid today, and that it enriches our modern conversations if we bring in these ancient perspectives.”
While she said she put quite a lot of time into the presentation, she feels fortunate to have been able to present it to two groups already, at Bluffton’s Presidential Scholarship Competition.
“I don’t feel like it was a wasted effort because I was able to engage two audiences with it in a very meaningful way,” Wyse-Rhodes said.
Nisly said that while he’s “sorry students won’t have the opportunity to learn and present” in the typical fashion on Civic Engagement Day, he thinks past Forum and chapel speakers, as well as classes, have helped students learn about this year’s theme.
“I think that we all have a lot to learn from each other as we seek to find balance and wholeness amidst our busyness,” Nisly said. “Given the challenges we’re all facing now, these reflections about how to live our best lives take on a special resonance.”
Wyse-Rhodes is hopeful that professors and students can use this public health emergency to reflect on the situation and still get some of the benefits of Civic Engagement Day, although in an unconventional way.
“What is Civic Engagement Day all about? It’s about why education is important, not just for the grade you get, or the job or the grad school you get into, but education is important for our civic society,” Wyse-Rhodes said. “And if we can reflect together in our classes about our particular time and place and what we’re struggling with as a community and as a world, it could be that we still get some of the benefits of that.”
