Hiram Advisory: Due to evolving recommendations regarding COVID-19, Hiram College transitioned to a remote synchronized learning environment effective March 18. Check back often for updates here.

Past Events

October 17, 2019 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – “Not Without Us: Using Testimonials from Black Patients to Humanize Data on Racial Disparities in Health Care” lecture by Keisha Ray, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Texas Medical School.
January 29, 2019 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – Sponsored by the Center for Literature and Medicine and Peg’s Foundation, “Leveraging Technology to Improve the Well-Being of the World,” Acacia Parks, Ph.D., Chief Scientist for Happify.

February 12, 2019 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – “Measured, Monitored, Optimized: Quantified Aging and Digital Culture” lecture by Barbara Marshall, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Trent University.

March 14, 2019 – Koritansky Hall 4:30 p.m. – “Through the Tunnel: Becoming Deafblind” with Angie Orlando.

March 19, 2019 – Library Pritchard Room – 7:00 p.m. – A film screening of Exact Change – A true story of boy meets girl, inside one person, with Christine Howey, writer, performer, and Executive Director of Literacy Cleveland.
September 11, 2018 – Kennedy Center Ballroom- 7:00 p.m. – “Sporting Life: Frankenstein and Technology” lecture by Lester D. Friedman, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, Media and Society Program, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and co-author of Monstrous Progeny: A History of the Frankenstein Narratives.”

September 20, 2018 – Library Pritchard Room – 7:00 p.m. – “From Carlisle to Ashland: The Role of the Modern Memoir” by Jon Kerstetter, MD, author, soldier, doctor.

September 21, 2018 – Dining Hall – Noon – Careers in Health Care Event with Kenneth Kall, DO, ’12, LECOM 2017.

December 10, 2018 – Alumni Heritage Room – 7:00 p.m. – “Learning to Heal: Reflections on Nursing School in Poetry and Prose” with Jeanne Bryner, RN & Poet and joined by Barbara Broome, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Dean of the College of Nursing at Kent State University, Ben Melnykovich, RN, BSAS, and Sandy Sarsany, RN.
January 22, 2018 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – Graphic Medicine Event “Taking Turns: Care Giving, Care Receiving, and Comics” Lecture by MK Czerwiec, RN, MA (a.k.a. “Comic Nurse”), Artist in Residence, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Medical Humanities & Bioethic.

January 23, 2018 – East Hall Forum – Noon-1:00 p.m. – Graphic Medicine Event Workshop: “Comics & Health: Can the Graphic Be the Medicine?” with MK Czerwiec.

February 22, 2018 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar Annual Lecture on “Citizenship and Mental Health” by Michael Rowe, Yale School of Medicine, Professor, Co-Director Program for Recovery and Community Health; Principal Investigator, CMHC Citizenship Project.

March 15, 2018 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – Graphic Medicine Event “Drawing Forward: Using Art to Cope with a Terminal Diagnosis” Lecture by Teva Harrison, Award-Winning Artist, Writer, Cartoonist and Guest Judge for the Graphic Medicine Competition.
September 27, 2017 – Kennedy Center Ballroom – 7:00 p.m. – Graphic Medicine Event – “Medical Illustration and the Language of Comics” lecture by Shelley Wall, MSc BMC PhD CMI.

September 28, 2017 – Library, Pritchard Room – Noon – Graphic Medicine Event – Workshop: “Exploring Point-of-View in Graphic Medicine” with Shelley Wall, Msc BMC PhD CMI.

October 9, 2017 – KC Ballroom – 6:30 p.m. – Screening of the Documentary Deej, followed by a panel discussion.

October 27, 2017 – Koritansky Hall – 4:00 p.m. – “Successfully Mad: Accepting Yourself and Your Mental Illness” by Sara Dobie Bauer.
February 20, 2017:“Race Based Trauma: Police Violence on Social Media as Modern-Day Lynchings” Lecture by Monnica T. Williams, Ph.D., ABPP, Board Certified Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Associate Professor, Psychological Sciences, Univ. of Connecticut, Director of the Laboratory for Culture and Health Disparities, Joint faculty at UConn Health, School of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinics, LLC.

February 23, 2017: Career in Health Care Series: Ellen Ellsworth, OD

February 28, 2017: Career in Health Care Series: Corey J. Thyes, SFC
October 10, 2016: Career In Health Care Series: Virginia Factor, D.O. ’07

October 16, 2016: “Baby Boom Tsunami?” Lecture by Lowell Arye, Ph.D., ’80.

October 25, 2016: Career in Healthcare Series: Thomas DeChellis, DDS

November 3, 2016: “From Diary to Graphic Memoir: How and Why I Wrote: Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s My Mother and Me” Lecture by Sarah Leavitt, Writer and Cartoonist

November 3, 2016: Career in Health Care Series: Edwin D. Niehaus, Certified Prosthetist and Orthotist, ’77
- Jan. 21, 2016: “Recovery from Schizophrenia: Myth, Mountain or Miracle?” with Dr. Fred Frese
- Feb. 10, 2016: A Lecture by Dr. Karla Holloway
- Sept. 14, 2015: Career in Healthcare Series: James Hideg
- Sept. 18, 2015: Career in Healthcare Series: Mark Murray
- Oct. 15, 2015: Career in Healthcare Series: Dr. Joseph Baytosh
- Oct. 30, 2015: Lecture by Dr. Timothy Walker: “Healing Knowledge in the Portuguese Colonial World: Medical Descriptions as Works of Ethnography, Botany, and Literature”
- February 23, 2015: Margaret Clark Morgan Lecture: Jeannie Flossie
- March 26, 2015: Careers in Healthcare Series – Andrea Heller, D.O., ’06, Family Medicine, Summa Health System
- March 26, 2015: Careers in Healthcare Series – Tyler Delaney, ’05, Chaplain, Cleveland Clinic
- March 30, 2015: “Death Over Dinner”: A Lecture by Joyce Mobley
- April 29, 2015: Vocal Explorations: A Multi-Generational Vocal Master Class with Dr. Clifton Ware
- April 30, 2015: Aging and the Voice: A Recital and Lecture with Dr. Clifton Ware
- September 11, 2014: Richard A. Settersten, Jr. Lecture
- October 6, 2014: Careers in Healthcare Series: Hannah Mirzakhani, ’11
- October 13, 2014: Margaret Morganroth Gullette Lecture
- October 28, 2014: Careers in Healthcare Series: Mark Mettler, ’88
- January 23, 2014: Careers in Healthcare Series – Rick Grimm, D.O., Director of the Echocardiography Laboratory and Staff Cardiologist, Cleveland Clinic
- January 28, 2014: Margaret Clark Morgan Lecture: Solome Tibebu
- March 18, 2014: Careers in Healthcare Series – Cheryl Milani, ’08, M.M.S., P.A.-C, Physician Assistant, North Shore Gastroenterology
- April 1, 2014: Careers in Healthcare Series – Catherine Tolbert, RN, MSN, NE-BC, FACHE, Sr. VP Nursing/Chief Nurse Executive, Humility of Mary Health Partners
- April 30, 2014: A Film Screening of FIXED: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement followed by a Discussion with the Film’s Director, Regan Brashear
- September 9, 2013: A Lecture and Performance by The Dancing Wheels Company
- October 1, 2013: Careers in Healthcare Speaker, Jeannie Flossie, Vice President, Alzheimer Programming Altercare of Ohio, Inc.
- October 8, 2013: A Lecture by Simi Linton, “Disability in 21^st Century America: Political, Social and Cultural Imperatives”
- October 15, 2013: Careers in Healthcare Speaker, Jeanne Bryner, Registered Nurse and Poet, Trumbull Medical Center
- October 22, 2013: Careers in Healthcare Speaker, Dr. Charyse McMillion, ’03, D.O., Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Family Medicine, Mercy Primary Care
- October 29, 2013: An Informal Discussion with Sue and Rita Rubin
- November 7, 2013: Veterans Day Event, Dr. Jon Kerstetter, army physician and Dr. Jason Gatliff, Ethics Officer at Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
- December 10, 2013: A Reading by Dr. Jack Coulehan
- February 5, 2013: Careers in Healthcare Series, Sarah Yarcusko, ’98, Chief Perfusionist for the Blanchard Valley Health System will be on campus to talk with students interested in healthcare at 12 p.m. in the Coleman Room in Gerstacker Science Hall.
- February 6, 2013: Dr. Robert Peralta, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Akron, will be the 2013 Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar and will deliver a lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom.
- February 25, 2013: Movie Showing of Forks Over Knives at 6 p.m. in the Alumni Heritage Room.
- February 27, 2013: Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn will discuss Forks Over Knives and his philosophy at 6 p.m. in the Alumni Heritage Room.
- March 25, 2013: Iris Angle will discuss her journey since her son’s suicide through readings from her book, Tell Your Story Walking: One Mother’s Legacy at 6:30 p.m. in Koritansky Hall.
- March 26, 2013: Careers in Healthcare Series, Megan Harner, ’02, Registered Dietician will be on campus to talk with students interested in healthcare at 6 p.m. in the Coleman Room in Gerstacker Science Hall.
- April 2, 2013: Careers in Healthcare Series, Dr. Joseph Zarconi, System Vice President for Medical Education and Research at Summa Health System, Director and Co-Founder of Summa’s Institute for Professionalism Inquiry, Professor of Internal Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Education for the NEOMED will be on campus to talk with students interested in healthcare at 6 p.m. in the Coleman Room in Gerstacker Science Hall.
- April 19, 2013: Dr. Jay Baruch and the winners of the William Carlos Williams prize will deliver a lecture in the Alumni Heritage Room at 4:30 p.m.
- October 10, 2012: Ruth Ozeki, Author of My Year of Meats and All Over Creation, will deliver a lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom, followed by a book signing.
- October 17, 2012: Dr. Rachel Adams, Author of Sideshow U.S.A.: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination, will deliver a lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom, followed by a book signing.
- October 23, 2012: Nurse and Poet, Jeanne Bryner will give a reading from her latest book of poems, Smoke at 6:30 p.m. in Koritansky Hall.
- October 25, 2012: Careers in Healthcare Series, Julie Patterson, Practicum Director of the Master of Public Health Program at Case Western Reserve University will be on campus to talk with students interested in healthcare at 6 p.m. in the Coleman Room in Gerstacker Science Hall.
Friday, April 27, 2012: Reading with Poet Rafael Campo

Poet/physician Campo will do a reading at 6:30 p.m. in the Garfield Meeting House, along with the winners of the William Carlos Williams Poetry contest.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012: “The Creation of Lisa’s Story”

Tom Batiuk, Author of Funky Winkerbean and Lisa’s Story will be on campus to discuss the topic at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom. A reception will follow honoring the winners of the Graphic Medicine contest.

Monday, March 26, 2012: “Gross and Gruesome: The Graphic in Medical Representation”

Catherine Belling, Assistant Professor of Medical Humanities & Bioethics. will be on campus to discuss “Gross and Gruesome: The Graphic in Medical Representation” at 6:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom

March 1-11, 2012: An Exploration of Disease or Disorder by Performance: Autism

Hiram College students will tour a performance piece called “It’s Okay” about autism they created during the Fall 2011 12-week during their Spring Break, March 5 – 11, 2012 to area high schools, colleges, libraries, and other places as appropriate. For more information or to have them perform at your organization or school, contact Brittany Jackson at JacksonB1@hiram.edu.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012: “The Republican War on Science”

Chris Mooney, Author of Author of The Republican War on Science and Senior Correspondent for The American Prospect Magazine will be on campus to discuss “The Republican War on Science.” This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Engaged Ethics and the Center for Deciphering Life’s Languages, and will take place at 7 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom.

Monday, February 27, 2012: “Molding Ourselves Free: 8 Autists Break Their Silence”

DJ Savarese, an autist, memoirist, poet, and playwright will be on campus to discuss “Molding Ourselves Free: 8 Autists Break Their Silence” at 6:30 p.m. in the Garfield Meeting House.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012: “Bullying Prevention: A Matter of Life and Death.“

The 2012 Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar, Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership in the Judith Herb College of Education at the University of Toledo and Author of School Shootings and Suicides: Why We Must Stop the Bullies, will be on campus to discuss “Bullying Prevention: A Matter of Life and Death.” This event is co-sponsored by the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation.

Thursday, January 19, 2012: “Graphic Medicine: The Sequential Art of Illness.”

Michael Green, Professor of Humanities and Medicine at the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, will be on campus to discuss “Graphic Medicine: The Sequential Art of Illness.”
November 8, 2011: Author of Atypical: My Life with Asperger’s in 20 1/3 Chapters, Jesse Saperstein was on campus giving a lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Garfield Meeting House.

October 27, 2011: Author, Tom Lutz will visit campus at 7 p.m. in the Pritchard Room and speak on “Reading and the Electronic Marketplace.” This event is co-sponsored by the Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature.
July 11 – 15, 2011: “What is Human” A humanities institute for high school teachers

June 7 – 11, 2011: On Healers and Healing Seminar

April 25, 2011: 7 p.m., Alumni Heritage Room, Teachout Price, Dr. Amy Wolfson will discuss “Take Back Sleep: Getting through the College Years”

February 10, 2011: Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar, Dr. Edgardo Padin-Rivera will be on campus to discuss post traumatic stress disorder.

January 27, 2011: Priscilla Wald, Professor of English and Women’s Studies at Duke University will be on campus to discuss “Clones, Chimeras, and Other Creatures of the Biotechnological Revolution: Or, What We Can Learn From Our Monsters” at 7 p.m. in Garfield Meeting House.

December 8, 2010: “9,000 Needles” movie screening with Director Doug Dearth on campus to answer questions in the Kennedy Center Ballroom at 7 p.m.

October 25 – 29, 2010: “The Space Between You and Me,” a video installation project relating to Tourette’s Syndrome in the Former Miller Dining Hall.
July 16-17, 2010: Summer Symposium and 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Center, “The Role of Narrative in Science and Medicine: 1990 – 2010”

Alumni Weekend, June 18-20, 2010: “The Machine Stops” course will be offered. See a performance and have a lively discussion following!

April 27, 2010: Danielle Ofri will be holding a book signing for her book Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lyndhurst, OH

April 28, 2010: Danielle Ofri, author of Medicine in Translation: Journeys with my Patients will be on campus to work with the Narrative Bioethics class and will lecture on her experiences that evening at 7 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom

March 15, 2010: 7 p.m., Kennedy Center Ballroom – Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks will be on campus to discuss her book

March 1 – 5, 2010: “The Machine Stops” performance, performed by four Hiram students, will tour to northeast Ohio high schools

January 19, 2010: Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski to discuss “Addictive Thinking”

October 30, 2009 at 9 p.m.: Fortitude, will be re-broadcast on WCPN.

November 6, 2009: The Center for Literature and Medicine celebrates the 100th anniversary of E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops and kicks off the Center’s 20th anniversary year long celebrations.

October 22, 2009 at 7 p.m.: Verb Ballets to do a performance of Jeanne Bryner’s play about nursing, Lift-Breathe-Carry to perform at Hiram’s Dedication of the Nursing Suite.

October 19, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.: Holly Hughes and Tess Gallagher, authors of Beyond Forgetting, the latest book in the Literature and Medicine Series from KSU Press will be on campus for discussions.

September 10, 2009: Tracy Kidder, Author of Mountains Beyond Mountains Convocation, Co-Sponsored with the Center for Ethics and Values.
June 13, 2009: Bill W. and Dr. Bob performs at Stan Hywet in Akron, Ohio to honor Founders Day and the Anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous

May 28-30, 2009: Performances of Jeanne Bryner’s play, Lift-Breathe-Carry based on her book, Tenderly Lift Me and Cortney Davis performing readings from her latest book, The Heart’s Truth will take their show on the road to Cleveland, Akron, and Pittsburgh.

April 24, 2009: Reading by the Winners of the William Carlows Williams Poetry Contest and Nationally-Known Physician-Poet Audrey Shafer at 4:00 p.m. in the Gerstacker Coleman Room.

Spring 2009: Senior Biomedical Humanities majors, Brittany Cowden, Deandra Gant, Don Tomas Leonhardt, Eddie Gisemba, Emmy Lou Dickinson, Heidi Gipson, Kay Bruss, Kristin Hom, Leah Schaffer, Melissa Wheaton, Michele Muirhead, Nicole Trainer, Raisa Janke, and Scott Simmons present their senior capstones.

February 5, 2009: Margaret Clark Morgan Visiting Scholar, John Cacioppo, Ph.D. talks about “Loneliness: Effects on Mental and Physical Health. What do Human Beings Need?” at 7:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Ballroom.

October 24, 2008: A production of Kurt Vonnegut’s Fortitude is being reformatted as a radio play and will be broadcast live on the local NPR-affiliate, WCPN-FM.

October 22-23, 2008: Symposium, Return to The House of God, with world-wide, best-selling author Stephen Bergman. This event is co-sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and is being coordinated with a Cleveland conference sponsored by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities that begins on October 24.

October 1, 2008: Return to The House of God will be released from the Kent State University Press, series in Literature and Medicine.
June 2008: Three 2007 books in the Kent State University Press, series in Literature and Medicine received recognition at this year’s Book Expo of America.
- Jay Baruch’s short stories Fourteen Stories received Honorable Mention in the Short Stories category of the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards.
- Tom Batiuk received a bronze medal in the Most Life Changing category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY’s) and was a silver medalist in the Nautilus Book Awards; finalist in the Popular Culture category of ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards for his book Lisa’s Story: the other shoe.
- Sayantani DasGupta and Marsha Hurst were silver medalists in the Women’s Issues category of the IPPY’s; finalist in the same category of the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards for their book Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies.
June 2008: Samuel Shem’s The Spirit of the Place and Angela Belli’s Bodies and Barriers: Dramas of Dis-ease were released from the Kent State University Press, series in Literature and Medicine.

April 24, 2008: Dr. Elissa Ely, a nationally known psychiatrist and writer specializing in the severely mentally ill and homeless population, will deliver the lecture, “Living homeless, treating homelessness.” Ely works at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, and her works have frequently appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and on National Public Radio.

Spring 2008: Senior Biomedical Humanities majors Cheryl Diroll, Robert Gavazzi, Emily Hagan, Britney Koepf, Shannon Mariner, Ryan McGee, Nora Plisga, Kayleigh Sopko, Jen Strater, Erin Telepak, and Erik Wallin give their capstone presentations.

Fall 2007: Stages: Cancer and the Arts: A fall 2007 series of presentations and discussions about cancer as it is portrayed in plays, literature, comic strips and art.

November 16, 2007: A production of E.M. Forester’s The Machine Stops is being reformatted as a radio play and will be broadcast on the local NPR-affiliate, WCPN-FM in the fall of 2007.
June 21-24, 2007: 2007 Summer Symposium on The Ethics, Politics, and Economics of Global Poverty and Health Care: an international symposium held on campus.

May 1, 2007: Convocation: a convocation by Jay Baruch, M.D.,: Doctors, Patients, and Other Strangers.

April 3, 2007: Margaret Clark Morgan Convocation: Dr. Phillip Resnik, MD and Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University presents a concovation entitled, The Andrea Yates Case: Insanity on Trial.

March 2007: Jay Baruch’s Fourteen Stories: Doctors, Patients and Other Strangers was released from the Kent State University Press series in Literature and Medicine.

Spring 2007: Senior Biomedical Humanities majors Kevin Barnett, Alana Christlieb, Shelly Kantner, Molly Macejko, Ginny Mateo, Adam McQuaid, Sanjur Purirani and Kristin Tomblin give their capstone presentations.

November 8, 2006: NEH Challenge Grant Celebration, Introduction of new faculty member Lynn Underwood and performance of Luis by Verb Ballets, Hayden Auditorium.