Student Council will host its sixth annual Look Hoos Talking event in the fall this year instead of spring.
The event, planned by the Academic Affairs Committee, will be held on Oct. 13 in Old Cabell Hall. The committee hopes to increase attendance by moving the event to the fall semester as opposed to spring, said fourth-year College student Harlin Oh, one of the Academic Affairs Committee co-chairs.
“We hope moving the event revamps it and gets people excited right when they get back to school and are thinking about how valuable their education is,” Oh said.
Speakers this year include University President Teresa Sullivan, Physics Prof. Lou Bloomfield, Economics Prof. Carter Doyle, Urban Planning Prof. Suzanne Moomaw, Music Prof. Michael Slon and Nursing Prof. Kenneth White.
Each speaker will give a 12-minute TED-style presentation for the over 500 members of the student body and greater Charlottesville community expected to attend.
Event organizers invited faculty member speakers who were highly nominated by students last semester and who come from a variety of academic fields in order to offer knowledge from different University disciplines, Oh said.
“I think that is a very valuable experience for students who crave to learn more, to step out of their own department and bubble and see how big the world of academia is,” Oh said.
econd-year Engineering student Priya Shankar, who attended Look Hoos Talking last year, said she appreciated the chance to learn from professors she would not have otherwise interacted with, particularly Biology Prof. Sarah Kucenas. Kucenas discussed the effects of inaccuracy as a scientist and the benefits of interacting with peers in other disciplines, Shankar said.
“I really liked that she talked about how we can go about learning from failure since most people do not talk about that,” Shankar said.
Speakers can choose their own subjects and manner of presenting as long as they stay within the time limit and pick relatable topics which are accessible to a lay audience, Oh said.
“They have a lot of creative freedom in deciding how they want to engage the students, which is great,” Oh said. “It keeps it well-mixed and keeps the entire event pretty dynamic.”
Oh said it is noteworthy that Sullivan is amongst the speakers, since Look Hoos Talking typically only features professors.
“We consider not just what you are teaching now, but what are you well-versed in and what can you showcase for students,” Oh said. “One person who students would love to hear from is Teresa Sullivan.”
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