Communications leader to give lecture

Lance Strate, professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University and one of the founders of the Media Ecology Association, will give a lecture Wednesday, September 21, at 7:30 p.m. at Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, 401 W Fulton, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Strate is internationally recognized for his intellectual leadership in the field of communication. He has served as executive director of the Institute of General Semantics (2008-2001), editor of the Speech Communication Annual, and Explorations in Media Ecology, and is supervisory editor of the media ecology book series published by Hampton Press. Translations of his writings have appeared in French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Chinese and Quenya.

His lecture will draw from his recent book, On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology (2011). It consists of a series of explorations into our use of symbols, language, and media to relate to our environment, and how our different modes of perception and communication influence human consciousness, culture, and social organization. Strate grapples with the question of what it means to be human, and what the prospects may be for humanity’s continued survival. He maintains a blog about media at http://lancestrate.blogspot.com.

The lecture is being presented by The School of Communications. For more information, contact Associate Professor Valerie Peterson, at [email protected], or x12981.