Eckerd College is pleased to present lectures and presentations, as well as arts and Athletics events, for the enjoyment and enlightenment of our community.
Free and open to the public unless otherwise specified.
Featured events Spring 2023
Gaining Ground: Food Systems Conversations and Collaborations
Gaining Ground: Food Systems Conversations and Collaborations
February 11, 2023, 3:00-6:30 p.m.
Location: Fox Hall
Come join thought leaders from all sectors of our area’s local food system for guided conversation and collaboration focused on developing just and sustainable ways of feeding Tampa Bay.
- 3–5 p.m. Program and Guided Discussion
- 5:00–6:30 p.m. Connection and Celebration: Good Eats and Drinks. Live Music. Networking. Farm Tours.
Brought to you by: The Eckerd College St. Pete Center for Civic Engagement and Social Impact, the Eckerd College Community Farm, the Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition (SUAC), The Florida Food Policy Council, USF Urban Food Sovereignty Working Group, and the Hillsborough County UF/IFAS Extension.
Capitalism Survival Strategies
Build the Life of Your Dreams Without Losing Your Soul or Destroying the Planet
March 2, 2023, 6-7 p.m.
Location: Fox Hall
Making your way in the world today can leave you feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, conflicted, isolated and depressed. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Join Laura Oldanie, a money and lifestyle coach for reluctant capitalists, as she shows you how to apply unique tools like lifestyle design, regenerative investing and out-of-the-box thinking to build a better life and a better world.
Art
Visit our three art galleries to enjoy works by Betsy Lester ’93, Brian Ransom as well as senior theses and more.
Film
Enjoy screenings of critically acclaimed films from around the world during our International Cinema Series as well as films to raise awareness and promote discussion of matters relating to nature, place and the environment during our Environmental Film Fest.
Performance
Two theatre productions are on tap for spring 2023: Eleemosynary and Spring Awakening.
M.C. Richards – Tulip Time, acrylic (1992)
My Cousin’s Dress by Betsy Lester ’93
Career Creatives – Women Excelling in the Arts
March 9, 2023, 6-8 p.m.
Location: Fox Hall
In honor of International Women’s Day, we’ll talk with several accomplished women who have forged successful careers in the arts, as they share how their passions led them along various pathways to the top of their fields. You’ll hear from visual and performing artists, curators, gallerists, and arts
professionals about building their own businesses, leading their communities, and forging cash-positive careers here in Tampa Bay.
The panel discussion will be led by Terry Marks, CEO of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and will be followed by an opportunity for Q&A and networking.
Panelists include:
- Howayda Affan – CEO of the Morean Arts Center, the Morean Center for Clay, the glass studio and the Chihuly Collection
- Katie Deits – Executive Director at Florida CraftArt, she is a Gallerist and Certified Fundraising Executive
- Amy Harriet Miller – President at The Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater, she also serves as President of the Bill Edwards Foundation for The Arts
- Erica Southerlin – Director of Ragtime at American Stage, this performing artist started with acting, then added theatrical directing to her resume, and now is a writer/director in television and film.
The event is free and open to the public.
National Poetry Month
An Evening with Pádraig Ó Tuama
April 6, 2023, 7 p.m.
Location: James Center for Molecular and Life Sciences Patio
The work of Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama centers on themes of language, power, conflict and religion. He is the author of several books of poetry and prose: Feed the Beast (Broken Sleep Books, 2022), In the Shelter (Broadleaf Books, 2021), Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community (Canterbury Press Norwich, 2017), Sorry for Your Troubles (Canterbury Press Norwich, 2013), and Readings from the Book of Exile (Canterbury Press Norwich, 2012). Ó Tuama also hosts the popular podcast Poetry Unbound, which immerses listeners in one poem every week. His collection Poetry Unbound (W.W. Norton & Company, 2022) is an expansion of this podcast that offers reflections on 50 powerful poems.
An Evening with Victoria Chang
April 12, 2023, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Dalí Museum Will Raymund Theater
In Collaboration with the Museum’s Monthly “Poetry at the Dalí Series”
Victoria Chang’s forthcoming book of poems, With My Back to the World, will be published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the U.S. and Corsair Books in the U.K. Her most recent poetry collection, The Trees Witness Everything (Copper Canyon Press, U.S.; Corsair Books, U.K.), was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by The New Yorker and The Guardian. Her nonfiction book Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions) was deemed a favorite nonfiction book of 2021 by Electric Literature and Kirkus. Her poetry collection OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020) was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Time Must-Read Book and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It also was longlisted for a National Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Chang lives in Los Angeles and is distinguished faculty within Antioch’s low-residency MFA Program.
An Evening with Rooja Mohassessy
April 20, 2023, 7 p.m.
Location: The Helmar and Enole Nielsen Center for Visual Arts Patio
Rooja Mohassessy is an Iranian-born poet and educator living in Northern California. She is a MacDowell Fellow and a graduate of Pacific University with an MFA in writing (poetry). When Your Sky Runs Into Mine (Elixir Press, 2023) won the 22nd Annual Elixir Poetry Prize. Her poems and reviews have appeared in Narrative Magazine, Poet Lore, RHINO Poetry, Southern Humanities Review, Calyx Journal, Ninth Letter, Cream City Review, The Rumpus, The Adroit Journal, Bare Life Review, Potomac Review, The Florida Review, New Letters, International Literary Quarterly and elsewhere.
Sexism in Science: Stories in Perseverance
A Conversation with Rita Colwell, Ph.D., Former Head of the National Science Foundation
April 10, 2023, 7 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Even science has a glass ceiling—and the #MeToo movement impacts women in labs, science departments, research foundations, engineering and biotech firms worldwide. Here to help women interested in science, technology, engineering and math careers navigate (and push through!) the challenges is one of the top scientists in America: Rita Colwell, Ph.D.
She was told “We don’t waste fellowships on women.” But this groundbreaking microbiologist went on to become the first female director of the National Science Foundation and recently published A Lab of One’s Own, a memoir-manifesto about the entrenched sexism in science, the elaborate detours women have taken to bypass the problem, and how to fix the system.
Eckerd’s Women in STEM Club is partnering with the St. Pete Center to bring Dr. Colwell virtually to Eckerd College to discuss her book and share her experience as a woman navigating the twists and turns of a successful career in STEM. The talk will be followed by a brief Q&A.
