A&M-Texarkana Showcases Local Economic Opportunity

Texas A&M-Texarkana will host a reception and presentation in October about local economic opportunity.The university will host a panel of professionals from the Texarkana region for its Program for Learning and Community Engagement (PLACE) Local Success Stories Symposium Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Eagle Hall of the University Center on the Texarkana campus.

Doors open at 6:30PM for a pre-event reception. The presentation will begin at 7PM

The university’s academic theme for 2015-16 is ‘Economic Opportunity’,” said Dr. Michael Perri, associate professor of history and chair of PLACE. “To illustrate cases of people who made the most of economic opportunities in their lives, PLACE selected a panel of some local luminaries to share with the university’s learning community the practices and decisions that led to their success.”

Panelists include D. Charles Fortenberry, MD, MBA, an emergency medicine doctor in Texarkana; Kelly Mitchell, an A&M-Texarkana alumnus and the current president and chief executive officer of TEXAR Federal Credit Union; and Maria Rodriguez, owner of Amigo Juan Restaurant.

PLACE is a faculty-led program designed to create a community of learners comprising A&M-Texarkana students, faculty, staff and the community at large.  In this spirit, all PLACE events, including the Oct. 6 Local Success Stories Symposium, are free and open to the public.  PLACE chooses an annual theme around which to organize a lecture series and other activities that provide focal points for learning and discussion.

Other PLACE events this fall semester are as follows:

October

• Thursday, Oct. 15, 9-10:15AM Dr. Michael Perri’s SuperLecture: “Sumner vs. Veblen: Contending Views about Nature, Society and Economic Policy,” University Center 210
• Thursday, Oct. 22, 6-8PM “Smuggled,”  film, lecture and reception with Ramon Hamilton, Eagle Hall, University Center
• Monday, Oct. 26, 6PM “Inequality for All,” film and discussion with Dr. James Harbin, Professor of Management, University Center 210
• Tuesday, Oct. 27, 10:30 -11:45AM Dr. Doug Julien’s SuperLecture, University Center 210

November

• Tuesday, Nov. 3, 4-5:30PM Dr. Godpower Okereke’s SuperLecture: “Privileged Deviance,” University Center 217
• Tuesday, Nov. 3, 7PM Tami Luhby, CNNMoney, lecture, Eagle Hall, University Center
• Tuesday, Nov. 10,  7PM David Shipler, author of “The Working Poor: Invisible in America,” (fall keynote), Eagle Hall, University Center
• Friday, Nov. 13, 4-7PM Student Research Poster Showcase, Eagle Hall, University Center
• Nov. 16-19, various events showcasing the university’s common reader, Robert Putnam’s “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis”

In addition to these events, A&M-Texarkana students are creating academic posters corresponding to the theme of “Economic Opportunity,” and the university has established an essay contest for students writing on the theme.

For more information and details about all of the events, please visit the PLACE website.