FULTON, MO – Former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, talking digital “humans,” a world-famous artist, a Paramount Pictures staff writer, and a teenage inventor/activist are just a few individuals heading up more than 20 presentations during the 17th Annual Hancock Symposium at Westminster College, Sept. 13-15, 2022.
Hancock Symposium has been compared to the popular TED Talks found on YouTube. The difference is Symposium features so many presentations, lectures and workshops often take place simultaneously at various locations throughout campus during the three-day event.
All sessions are free and open to the public and the media. Additionally, most lectures in Champ Auditorium will be livestreamed on Westminster’s Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn pages.
Hancock Symposium Chair Heidi LaVine, PhD, chuckles when she describes the event.
“It might sound a little bit like a three-ring circus, but it really does work, and everyone who attends learns a tremendous amount and has such a great time,” LaVine says, adding that she knows of a retired couple who travel from out of state each year to attend.
LaVine describes the Hancock Symposium as the College’s “signature event,” meaning it is designed to represent the finest aspects of a Westminster liberal arts education. Attendees are encouraged to draw connections between academic disciplines within a single topic.
Themed “The Changing Nature of Work & Play,” the 2022 Hancock Symposium brings together experts from a variety of fields to discuss how to balance work, life, and play in the modern world.
Classes at Westminster are paused during Symposium to allow students, faculty, and staff to participate. The public is encouraged to participate, as well.