Welcome to the Convo Page!

 

See below for

academic policies,

proposal information,

upcoming Convocations,

& more!

 

Spring Convocations

(information is subject to change - visit

this site frequently for the most up-to-date information)

 

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Solarize Boyle: Clean Energy Initiative in Danville, KY

Tuesday April 1, 2025 | 7:00pm – Young 113

 

Solarize Boyle is a community-organized collaboration between the Danville City Commission, Kentucky Energy Council, and Boyle Fiscal Court to encourage small businesses and farm operations to invest in affordable solar energy through offering financial incentives. Solarize Boyle representative Dan Nolet will provide a glimpse into the challenges in organizing environmental initiatives in Boyle and surrounding counties, and provide a picture of the future of this movement promoting clean energy in our local community.

 

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The Digital Revitalization of Endangered Languages: The Case of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) (D&I)

Wednesday April 2, 2025 | 7:30pm – Vahlkamp

 

 

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Maqluba Screening and Conversation with Creators (D&I)

Thursday April 3, 20205 | 7:30pm - Vahlkamp

 

This 28 minute, Louisville shot short film is centered on the relationship between a Palestinian-American grandmother and her granddaughter. Laila, a Palestinian-American drummer, visits her grandmother in her new apartment during a powerful storm under the guise of helping her unpack. But her nefarious goals slowly unfold as they delve deeper into the mystical fateful night. They spend the evening together feasting on maqluba (a famous Palestinian dish layering vegetable, meat, and broth with rice, which is then dramatically flipped over to reveal the tasty entrée), reading Turkish coffee grounds, and coming to terms with past traumas. Following the screening, Mike Elsherif, writer and director, and JohnBen Lacy ‘07, producer and cinematographer, will engage in conversation with attendees. The film has been shown at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, the Speed Cinema in Louisville, and at The Muslim House during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

 

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Using Analytical Chemistry to Achieve Environmental Justice Through Community-Engaged Studies (D&I)

Thursday April 3, 2025 | 7:30pm – Young 113

 

Dr. Myron Lard will present research using analytical chemistry to achieve environmental justice through community-engaged studies. The negative impacts of industrial practices and accidents generally affect individuals who represent underserved communities. Through our research, we partnered with two impacted communities, the first in Colfax, LA. and the second in East Palestine, OH. to identify and study the byproducts generated and their subsequent dispersal throughout the communities. This talk will discuss the use of analytical methods to study the toxicants generated from the open-burn waste treatment facility located in Colfax, and also those generated in East Palestine in the wake of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in February of 2023.

 

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Centre Symphony Orchestra - Spring 2025

Monday April 7, 2025 | 7:30pm – Newlin Hall

 

The Centre Symphony Orchestra is a staple of the Centre experience and a truly impressive performance to behold. It's comprised of Centre students, along with a sprinkling of professional guest artists, and conducted by our very own Dr. Robert Seebacher.

 

 

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You Can't Share Water from a Broken Cup: Fortifying Oneself to Better Serve Others

Thursday April 10, 2025 | 7:00pm – Ewen Room

 

Deciding to shape one's career around service to others is truly admirable. The world needs people with the skillsets provided by Centre. Working directly with those in need, however, is often more challenging than imagined. Success in the work depends on having a strong fortifying philosophy to rely on during those hard moments. Join Robb Nash (Centre alumnus '83, Director of the HIV Program for the Tennessee Department of Health, Social Impact CEC Advisory Board Member, and Health & Medicine CEC Advisory Board Chair) as he offers insights from the literature as well as his own personal experiences to help the listener begin work towards the self-care that is fundamental to caring for others.

 

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CANCELED

Health Equity: More than a Buzzword - Building Agency, Advocacy, and Action

Tuesday April 15, 2025

CANCELED

 

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Journalism and the Power of Critical Inquiry: An Evening with Renee Shaw (D&I)

Tuesday April 15, 2025 | 7:15pm – Vahlkamp 

 

In an age of rapid information sharing and widespread misinformation, the need for thoughtful, accurate, and ethical journalism has never been greater. Good journalism doesn’t just inform—it holds power accountable, amplifies unheard voices, and helps us make sense of a complex world.

As part of this upcoming semester’s Citizen Power Tools Series, you're invited to learn about journalism in America and its importance to democracy.

As the guiding voice behind KET’s public affairs programming, Renee Shaw—Director of Public Affairs and Moderator at KET—brings decades of experience covering Kentucky’s most pressing issues. She will share the realities of her work, the challenges journalists face in the 21st century, and what the future of journalism holds in the face of major political, technological, and social shifts.

 

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The Search for Dark Matter

Wednesday April 16, 2025 | 7:00pm – Young 113

 

Vera Rubin was an American astronomer who showed that galaxies do not rotate as predicted by gravitational models unless they are comprised of mostly an unseen, undetectable form of matter. Her discovery provided the first evidence of what was named "dark matter." Current cosmological theories suggest that dark matter comprises 90% of matter in the universe, but its properties are completely unknown. Jacob Pfaller (Centre Physics 2021) is pursuing his physics PhD at the University of Cincinnati, and he will discuss his current research at the CERN Supercollider experiment in Geneva, Switzerland. CERN is a premier particle research facility and the largest experiment in the world. Jake is a lead researcher on a team constructing a new detector to measure new exotic particles that may be the source of dark matter. He will discuss his exciting research and how Centre College prepared him for his graduate studies and future as a scientist.

 

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Centre Choirs - Spring 2025

Wednesday April 16, 2025 | 7:30pm – Newlin Hall

 

This performance features Centre Singers, an auditioned group of highly refined singers, and College Choir, a diverse, large, and talented group of students, staff/faculty, and community members. Both groups sing a variety of songs, both classical and contemporary. This concert will be conducted by Sam Scheibe, the Visiting Instructor of Music and Interim Director of Choral Ensembles and Voice.

 

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Making Christianity Manly Again: Gender Theology, Hypermasculinity, and a Megachurch Empire (D&I)

Thursday April 17, 2025 | 7:00pm – Vahlkamp

 

Dr. Jennifer McKinney, author of Making Christianity Manly Again, explains how megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll and his Seattle church indelibly impacted American evangelicalism. Driscoll’s gender theology put men at the forefront of American Christianity, rebranding Jesus from a “gay hippie in a dress” to a sword-carrying, “robe-dipped-in-blood” warrior. This type of rhetoric paved the way for evangelicals’ embrace of hypermasculine Christianity. Sociologist Jennifer McKinney presents a better understanding of the dynamics of the evangelical impulse to reclaim and glorify men, fueling a growing Christian nationalist movement.

 

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Does Legal Mobile Sports Betting Affect Mental Health?

Friday April 18, 2025 | 7:30pm – Young 113

 

This Convocation event will feature a presentation on the impact of legal mobile sports betting on mental health and financial well-being, drawing on data from the Household Pulse Survey. The lecture will explore the effects of the staggered legalization of sports betting across U.S. states, focusing on its influence on self-reported mental health and financial distress. Contrary to widespread concerns, the findings suggest that legal access to online betting has no significant average impact on these measures at the population level. The presentation will also discuss the absence of significant differences across demographic groups that are more likely to engage in sports betting. This talk will provide timely insights into an ongoing policy debate regarding the societal implications of legal sports betting.

 

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Gender, Transnational Repression, and Perils of Technology (D&I)

Tuesday April 22, 2025 | 7:00pm – Young 113

 

Me Me Khant is a poet and human rights activist from Myanmar and a Centre alumni from Class of 2020. In this convocation, she will share her experience advocating for human rights at the intersection of gender, digital repression, and emerging technologies in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Myanmar's ongoing civil war. Drawing from firsthand experience and research, she will discuss the important role women play in Myanmar's democratic movement, and on the flip side, how women activists are increasingly targeted through digital harassment and transnational repression. The discussion will also explore the new and fast-changing vulnerabilities for women human rights defenders and diaspora communities through the lens of the rise of generative AI and other emerging technologies. She will examine cases from Myanmar and its neighbors, particularly focusing on how policies and regulations in the US – not only from the government but also from technology platforms – can have a sweeping impact in the human rights landscape in the region.

 

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James W. Barton RICE Symposium

Wednesday April 23, 2025 | 7:30pm – Vahlkamp

 

The James W. Barton RICE Symposium convocation features a panel of Division I, II and III alumni. They speak about how research at Centre helped prepare them for their career. We have a series of questions prepared, which we share ahead of time, that each panelist answers from the point of view of their experience in their professional field.

 

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How We Save Ourselves

April 23, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre

April 24, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre

April 25, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre

April 26, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre

 

The Farm Theater - College Collaboration Project –

A New Play by Enid Graham

April 23-25 @ 7:30pm

Directed by Jennifer Goff

How to Save Ourselves is the story of six mis-matched 20-somethings who come together to volunteer for six weeks at the Love Your Neighbor Food Initiative in the not-so-distant future. They all have their own reasons for being there, but Stephen and Antonio (who run the food bank) are just glad to have the help. In a world where climate emergencies, refugee crises, and violence seem like daily occurrences, it's sometimes hard to imagine how volunteering one day a week in one little food bank can make any difference at all. But when they find themselves in the midst of their own emergency, it turns out that maybe they have each other to turn to. And maybe, in this world, that might just be a miracle.

 

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John C. Young Honors Symposium (D&I)

SESSION I: Saturday April 26, 2025 | 9am -10:45am – Vahlkamp

SESSION II: Saturday April 26, 2025 | 11am – 12:45pm – Vahlkamp

 

This event showcases the exceptional research of the six seniors chosen as 2024-2025 class of John C. Young Scholars. Each scholar is briefly introduced by their faculty mentor, with whom they have been working closely on their project for a year or more. Then, the scholar presents part of their research to the audience for 25-30 minutes, followed by five minutes of Q +A. Traditionally, at the end of the symposium, the 2025-2026 scholars are announced. Our program typically does three presentations during Session I (taking roughly 90-95 minutes), then a break, and then three more presentations during Session II. Students can earn up to two convocation credits (one per Session).

 

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Kentucky Traditional Ensemble

Monday April 28, 2025 | 7pm – Combs Warehouse

 

This acoustic band, comprised of Centre student musicians, explores the ballad-singing and string-band traditions of the Appalachians, the bluegrass tradition of Central Kentucky, and more recent music inspired by these traditions.

 

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Kentucky Contemporary Ensemble

Tuesday April 29, 2025 | 7pm –  Combs Warehouse

 

The Kentucky Contemporary Ensembles performs music from 1950 to the present with connections to the traditions stemming from Kentucky and the American South, ranging from country, to blues, to soul, to pop and beyond.

 

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African Drumming Ensemble - Spring 2025

Monday May 5, 2025 | 7pm – Newlin Hall

 

Centre's Music Program encourages students to participate in various ensembles, two of which are Centre Fusion and African Percussion. This concert is a fun, vibrant, culturally exuberant, energized night where students show off their percussive talents for the Centre community, as well as the Danville community at large.

 

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Honors Convocation - Spring 2025  (2 credits!)

Wednesday May 7, 2025 | 7:30pm – Newlin Hall

 

Honor's Convocation is an opportunity for campus to come together at the end of the academic year to celebrate the accomplishments of students, faculty, and staff members. 

 

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Spring Dance Concert 2025

Thursday May 8, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre

 

The annual Spring Dance Concert is an exciting and entertaining evening of dance, performed by students enrolled in dance classes through Centre's Drama Program. The concert presents a variety of choreographic works by regional dance artists as well as students.

 

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Agathe & Adrien: N.Ormes Performance (D&I)

Monday May 12, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre

 

Blurring the lines between circus show, contemporary dance and performance art, N.Ormes invites audiences to question preconceived ideas. In this physically impressive and touching creation, duo Agathe Bisserier and Adrien Malette-Chénier push the limits and expectations of their own bodies and gender norms. Recent graduates of the famed Circus School of Québec, Agathe and Adrien have developed a unique, highly physical circus and dance vocabulary. The duo has worked with renowned cirque companies on European tours and circus festivals worldwide. N.Ormes will challenge you to question your own assumptions through a touching and intimate journey that will move you with a perfect blend of tears and laughter.

Recommended for ages 17 and older. Includes mature themes and brief nudity.

Important Info for Students, Staff, and Faculty

Tips, Tricks, and FAQ’s

 

• Time Management: Plan your Convo schedule at the beginning of the term when the calendar goes out – and remember to double-check the details before the event to be sure nothing has changed.
• Event Details: sometimes they change, so be sure to check the Convo page on Centrenet or follow @centreconvocations on Instagram for the most up-to-date information.
• Arrive early- If you think the Convocation might reach capacity, arrive early to secure your seat.
• Can I arrive late? No. Convocation Workers are instructed to stop scanning as soon as the event begins.
• How do I know I’ve scanned in? When scanning your student ID, your photo should display with a green background; a red background indicates an invalid scan. 
• I didn’t get my credit!! Any discrepancies in credit should be communicated to the Convocation Manager, Erika Sengstack, as soon as possible. To receive credit after an event, you will need a faculty/staff member to verify your attendance.