Geneva College announces fall 2010 Colloquia Series speakers

BEAVER FALLS, PA. (08/25/2010)(readMedia)-- Geneva College hosts the Colloquia Series each semester to encourage students and the community at large to evaluate the problems and challenges of the world with wisdom and Christian principles. The speakers for the series come from around the world to discuss compelling and provocative sociocultural, scientific, religious, literary, educational, political and economic ideas and practices that shape the world.

The Colloquia series at Geneva is open to the campus community and the public at no charge. The schedule for the fall '10 semester follows.

Dr. Dan Volz will speak on Thursday, September 9 at 7 p.m. and Friday, September 10 at 10:10 a.m. in Skye Lounge of the Student Center. He will address the Marcellus Shale project and controversy. Debate has arisen about the benefits and risks associated with drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation, which lies below much of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York.

Dr. Volz is an Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), University of Pittsburgh. He also serves as Director for the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the GSPH and Director of the Environmental Health Risk Assessment Certificate Program.

Dr. Volz's research is primarily focused on how toxins move through air, water, soil and groundwater to reach people, and how to block the movement of these toxins. Recognized as an international expert in his area, Volz has over 30 years of experience in occupational-environmental health. His has worked in 24 different countries on five continents, performing a variety of studies and assessments.

He holds a Doctor of Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1984, Volz started Volz Environmental Services, an environmental health consulting company. He joined the faculty of Pitt in May of 2004.

Dr. James Thwaites will be on campus Monday – Thursday, October 11-14. Times and locations of his presentations will be announced shortly. He will speak on various topics pertaining to the implications of a Hebraic worldview for life.

Dr. Thwaites is an internationally recognized pastor and author from Sydney, Australia. He serves as an elder at Manly Village Church, which was formed in 1999 when two local congregations from opposite ends of the cultural and theological spectrum decided to overcome their differences and worship together.

He has written and spoken extensively on the place of the church in the postmodern world and has taught at Hillsong International Leadership College and the Wagner Leadership Institute. He is author of The Church Beyond the Congregation and Renegotiating the Church Contract. His work is packed with timely reminders and exhortations for those "who seek a new vision for the church in the third millennium."

Dr. Jean Twenge will speak on Thursday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Friday, November 12 at 10:10 a.m. in Skye Lounge of the Student Center. She will discuss her work pertaining to trends among current high school and college students.

Dr. Jean Twenge is an author, speaker, professor and consultant whose work focuses on the trends among current high school and college students. She serves as a social psychologist at San Diego State University.

Twenge has written two books, Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled -- and More Miserable than Ever Before and The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. Her work is based on the findings of over two million student surveys on self-esteem, narcissism, anxiety, depression, expectations for the future and other traits, attitudes and behaviors.

She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Chicago and received her doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1998. She joined the faculty of SDSU in 2001.

Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College's philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).