Timely Societal Issues Complete Lecture Season

Pat Ingalls

LifeLong Learning concludes its 2020-21 season of Monday Morning Lectures this month with the following free Zoom presentations, held during March. All begin at 10 a.m.

* Goodyear—An Economic Hot Spot (Monday, March 8) Learn about Goodyear’s expansive growth and how the city has positioned itself as the next economic hot spot. Hear highlights on current major projects, including Goodyear Civic Square, a 47-acre site at McDowell Road near 150th Drive. The project, in cooperation with landowner Globe Corporation, calls for a new city hall, a library, a two-acre park/gathering place, and upscale Class A office space.

Speaker: Julie Arendall has worked as Goodyear’s city manager since February 2018. She has more than 20 years of local government experience and is a credentialed city manager through the International City Management Association.

* Free Speech (Monday, March 15) Whether expressed in person, or through social media, words can have a powerful effect on our sense of safety, inclusion, and equality. What is hate speech? Who decides what speech is protected and what is not? Who regulates social media content? What is the impact on individuals and communities who are silenced? Explore the complex history of First Amendment freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly in America.

Speaker: Gail Rhodes is an associate faculty member at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She worked in television as an anchor and reporter for 20 years before enrolling at ASU, where she earned master’s and doctorate degrees.

* Future Water Security for Arizona (Monday, March 22) Is there enough water to maintain Arizona’s way of life? Learn which parts of the state have long-term, resilient water supplies, which lack them, and explore proposed solutions.

Speaker: Sarah Porter is director of ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute, which promotes research, analysis, collaboration, and dialogue to build consensus on sound water stewardship for Arizona and the West. She also serves as deputy director of ASU’s Future H2O, which works on solving real-world water challenges both local and global.

* A Psychologist’s View of Why We Harass (Monday, March 29)

Increasingly, harassment in business, on the playground, or in any other environment, has become unacceptable. Psychologists define harassment as systematic and/or continued, unwanted, annoying actions of one party or a group, including threats and demands. Explore why people harass and what to do about it.

Speaker: PebbleCreek resident Dwight Moore received his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1984. He worked with the Minneapolis Family Institute and interned with the Domestic Abuse Project, counseling court-ordered men. He also coached executives in Fortune 500 companies to become more proficient leaders.

Visit www.lifelonglearningatpc.org for more details and to register. Lecture capacity is capped at 100, and each lecture maintains a waitlist. Registration is open for all lectures. You must have a LLL online account to register. If you do not have one, go to the LLL website and click Sign Up on the right side of any webpage.