{"70809":{"#nid":"70809","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Series Provides Venue for Intellectual Discussion","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERegardless of your education level, everyone on campus is invited to join the discussion at Tech\u2019s weekly Open Forum meetings.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe best conversations at Open Forum transcend generations, and they transcend faculty, staff and student boundaries,\u201d said Steve Fazenbaker, director of the Wesley Foundation at Georgia Tech and Open Forum board member. \u201cStudents offer keen insight about contemporary life and bring fresh and hopeful perspectives to the conversations. Meanwhile, faculty and staff contribute an element of wisdom that only comes through living life.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOpen Forum got its official start in fall of 2010. The Office of Undergraduate Studies created the program to provide students with an opportunity to engage in unbiased intellectual discussions with peers, as well as faculty and staff. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring each session, a facilitator provides a five-minute introduction about the week\u2019s topic, which can range from piracy to religion.Participants break off into groups of about four to six people to discuss. The last 10 to 15 minutes of the one-hour session is spent with each group providing a brief summary of what they discussed. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFacilitators provide groups with a discussion guide that includes anything from questions to quotes to aid the conversation. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe discussions are never mundane,\u201d said Ameet Doshi, a librarian at the Georgia Tech Library and Open Forum board member. \u201cIt is illuminating to hear student opinions on issues of importance directly from them \u2014 rather than through a filter.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETopics are selected during brainstorming sessions held by the board or from suggestions from attendees. Board members not only serve as facilitators for most of the sessions, but they also select featured facilitators for the monthly \u201cThis I Believe\u201d edition of Open Forum. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn these sessions, there\u2019s not really a guiding topic in advance \u2014 a theme will develop based on what the person talks about during his or her introduction,\u201d said Matt LeBrun, communications specialist for Undergraduate Studies. \u201cUsually, the theme is something that is very personal to the speaker.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPast \u201cThis I Believe\u201d speakers have included First Lady Valerie H. Peterson and Undergraduate Student Government Association President Elle Creel. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOpen Forum sessions are held most Thursdays from 11 a.m. to noon in room 205, Clough Commons. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe topic of discussion for the next session, which will be held on Oct. 6, is \u201cReal Life: Does Technology Inhibit Our Ability to Communicate?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERegardless of your education level, everyone on campus is invited to join the discussion at Tech\u2019s weekly Open Forum meetings.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Regardless of your education level, everyone on campus is invited to join the discussion at Tech\u2019s weekly Open Forum meetings."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-10-03 16:12:11","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:22","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-10-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-10-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"70808":{"id":"70808","type":"image","title":"Open Forum","body":null,"created":"1449177314","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:15:14","changed":"1475894623","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:43","alt":"Open Forum","file":{"fid":"193462","name":"open_forum.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/open_forum_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/open_forum_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":298228,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/open_forum_0.jpg?itok=BxOQptgw"}}},"media_ids":["70808"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/gtopenforum.gatech.edu\/","title":"GT Open Forum"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11675","name":"Open Forum"},{"id":"11759","name":"This I Believe"},{"id":"2247","name":"Undergraduate Studies"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:matt.lebrun@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMatt LeBrun\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUndergraduate Studies\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}