VGCC lecture series will make “waves”
Vance-Granville Community College will offer an informative lecture series that highlights the variety of expertise found among the college’s faculty members. Four instructors from VGCC’s Arts and Sciences division will make presentations during March and April, all related to the theme, “Earth’s Energy and Wave Motion: Harmony and Disharmony in Our Relationship with Nature and with Each Other.” Each lecture will be held in the VGCC Civic Center on Main Campus , and all are open to the public, in addition to VGCC students, faculty and staff.
VGCC Physics instructor Bill Tucci will kick off the series with a presentation called “Middle Latitude Wave Cyclone, the Jet Stream and this Winter’s Unusual Weather,” on Wednesday, March 2 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Tucci will explore the causes for weather patterns in North America, and how they appear to have changed this winter.
“Tapping the Source: Why Surfing Might Be Good for the Soul” is the title of English instructor David Wyche ’s lecture on Wednesday, March 23 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. This installment of the series will explore human interaction with waves of energy in the medium of the ocean; in other words, surfing. Wyche will explore the explosive popularity of surfing and ponder why so many people sense a strong spiritual component in this athletic activity.
Mathew Nielsen , an instructor of Spanish, will discuss “Tidal Disasters & Mother Nature’s Misbehaved Waves” on Wednesday, April 13 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. He will focus on how human beings experience and respond to “freak waves,” tidal surges, tsunamis, and solitons — all extraordinary natural phenomena that can cause great discomfort. Certain cultural and scientific explanations and responses have helped to provide some security and peace of mind, but devastating events continue to challenge humans with the frightening prospect of an extremely energetic and unruly chaos.
Finally, music instructor Michael Stephenson will consider entirely different kinds of waves in his lecture, “Harmony and Discord in the Music and Personal Lives of the Beatles,” on Wednesday, April 27 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Stephenson will discuss how the iconic British rock group’s creative activity was affected by their relationships with one another, which changed from a seemingly harmonious relationship in the beginning to an obviously discordant relationship in the end.
For more information on these lectures, call VGCC instructor Joshua McKaughan at (252) 738-3464.
