UH Honors College Fundraiser 'Great Conversation' Delivers Dinner Discussions With Experts, Scholars

Annual Event Set for March 27 at Houston Country Club

For 20 years, the University of Houston’s Honors College has served up delightful dinner discussions with award-winning academic professionals and esteemed experts.

Honors College alumna Jane Cizik envisioned “The Great Conversation” as a vehicle to share the Honors College’s talents with the Houston community. Each year, the event brings together faculty members, alumni, friends, donors and students.

This year’s event kicks off at 7 p.m., March 27, at the Houston Country Club.  All proceeds benefit scholarships and other forms of student support.

The chairs of “The Great Conversation” are Honors College alums Matt and Tamara Steele.  For details on sponsorship opportunities or tickets, visit “The Great Conversation” website or contact Beth Kungel Borck in the Honors College at 713-743-3220 or bkborck@uh.edu.

“The Great Conversation” features more than 30 University of Houston scholars and experts discussing varied topics at different tables. Each patron selects a table and spends the evening enjoying a gourmet meal and engaging in meaningful discussion on a range of subjects – art, politics, humanities, popular culture, philosophy, literature, higher education, architecture and more. Table topics and conversationalists include:

  • Contemporary Art and Wine of Latin America  - Rex Koontz, director of UH’s School of Art
  • Tier One in Tough Times: "Moneyball" in Academia  - William Monroe, dean of UH’s Honors College, and Robert Zaretsky, UH professor and historian
  • Union Jack, Stars and Bars, and Old Glory: The Flap About Flags - Robert Cremins, Irish novelist and UH Honors College professor
  • The 1960s in America: A Decade of Hope and Horror - Lawrence Curry, UH Professor Emeritus
  • Manners in Manors: Downton Abbey” and the State of PBS - Ernie Manouse, host/producer/writer at Houston Public Media
  • Is Light Rail Houston's Fiscal Cliff? -  Steve Craig, UH professor of economics

For a complete list of table topics and presenters, click here.

“Twenty-one years ago, ‘The Great Conversation’ was a bold experiment to bring a working city and an ambitious university into dialogue," Monroe said.  "Now more than ever, the city needs the free exchange of ideas taking place every day in the university, and the university needs the vitality and practicality of the city.  We hope that Houston is better off as a result of this event. We know that the university is.”

The Honors College at UH is a hub of excellence that serves the needs of gifted undergraduates in more than 100 fields of study and reflects the rich diversity of the University of Houston in its courses, faculty and students. For over 50 years, the Honors College has offered students the best of both worlds: the advantages of a small college together with the comprehensive resources and rich diversity of a large university. For more information about the Honors College, visit http://TheHonorsCollege.com

 

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About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation’s best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation’s fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 40,700 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country.