Food for thought to be served up at lunchtime Faculty Forums

What do skeptics, sustainability, the internet, gold mines and film have in common?

They’re among the topics to be featured in the fall Faculty Forum lunchtime series sponsored by The Faculty Research and Development Council. The traditional staff/faculty lecture series pairs stimulating talks by some of Chapman University’s top faculty members with all-you-can-eat Sodexo luncheon buffets.

The lecture series opens at noon Tuesday, Sept. 20, in Beckman Hall 404. The $5.25 buffet lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and continues to 1 p.m. No reservations are necessary and attendees are welcome to bring brown-bag lunches as well.

The fall schedule includes:

• Tuesday, Sept. 20: “Internet Stardom: How Chapman Students And Faculty Can Seize This Opportunity.” Frank Chindamo, associate professor of webisodes, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
• Tuesday, Sept. 27: “Faculty-Student Partnership and Promoting the University while providing creative opportunities for students.” Peter M. Weitzner, associate professor and director of broadcast journalism, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
• Wednesday, Oct. 5: “Do Rules Help Foster Trust?”
  Timothy Shields, assistant professor of accounting, Argyros School of Business and Economics.
• Wednesday, Oct. 12: “Sociospatial Approaches to Community Research”
  Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg, visiting professor of sociology, Wilkinson College of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Tuesday, Oct. 18: “The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies — How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths.” Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic Magazine and adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University and Chapman University.
• Tuesday, Oct. 25: “Faithful Measures:  Assessing and Improving the Measurement of Religion.” Christopher Bader, professor of sociology, Wilkinson College of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Tuesday, Nov. 1: “The High (Environmental and Health) Costs of Mining:  Arsenic Contamination in Gold Mines.” Christopher Kim, associate professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology.
• Tuesday, Nov. 8: “Re-Defining ‘Return’ in Turkish-, Kurdish-German and Turkish-Belgian Film.” Silvia Kratzer, adjunct faculty, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
• Tuesday, Nov. 15: “Sustainability Across the Curriculum”
  Brian Glaser, assistant professor of English, Wilkinson College of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Gerri McNenny, associate professor of education, College of Educational Studies.
• Tuesday, Dec. 6: “Absolutist Nationalism in Eritrea.”
  Tekle Woldemikael, chair and professor of sociology, Wilkinson College of the Humanities and Social Sciences
• Wednesday, Dec. 7: “Children Who are Homeless: Learning and Language Issues.” SallyAnn Giess, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders, College of Educational Studies.