Dr. Williams Lecture

I think Freshman Seminar chose the perfect people to start and end the lectures. Dr. Carr opened with an enlightening speech about African success, and Dr. Williams closed one door and opened another to the next phase of Freshman Seminar with her lecture about research. Her lecture made me excited about what is going to come. Dr. Williams opened her lecture by first giving us the six components to research. It was a very simple task, as she could simply state what we had already learned in science. What set her lecture apart from anyone else’s is that she had an example of how she used it. I never understood the point of freshman seminar, and despite the constant reminder in every single lecture of how this was a great class, I still didn’t see it. Dr. Williams stated the problem, or challenge that they were trying to find a solution to for freshman seminar. She said we were “miseducated”, specifically about African American history, and that was something they wanted to fix. She then stated what is called “Lit Review,” which is basically finding out what have others done to find a solution to the problem. She then continued to relate the Freshman Seminar to the next 4 steps (methodology, framework, development of thesis, conclusion) of research. What I needed was an explanation of the relevance of each lecture to what we were trying to accomplish in freshman seminar, and Dr.Williams did that. She explained the importance of each lecture to the overall success or future success of Freshman Seminar. Dr. Williams cleared the confusion in my mind about the class, and gave me something to look forward to within the upcoming weeks.

Omoluabi

As we were all growing up, we were constantly asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?". The most common answers we would hear included a doctor, an astronaunt, a police officer and even superman. Personally, my answer to that question was constantly changing. If I could go back in time and change my answer again it would be Omoluabi. After Segun Gbadegesin's lecture about self actualization and communal responsibility, I was inspired to become a better person who aspires to accomplish more for their community. Omoluabi is "a person of character, disciplined, self improving, thus earning the respect of peers and community on account of practical wisdom in putting knowledge acquired through education to the service of the community, and not shying away from personal sacrifices when needed". To attain such a title would be a great honor. Of course this title is not yet impossible to attain. I do not have to regress to the state of a five year old in order to aspire such position. The pursuit for omoluabi can occur at anytime within a person's life. By accomplishing my career goals of becoming a doctor, I will be seen as omoluabi for my community. A doctor has a set of morals that they conduct themselves by in order to maintain a positive example for the health of their community. Doctors must also be self improving and disciplined because they must engage in numerous years of medical studies in order to master their practice and through the titles they earn during this time a greater respect is earned from their community and peers. I used the example of a doctor because that is my personal career goal but all people are capable of omoluabi if they set out to achieve greatness while also making a positive impact on their surounding community.

Dr. Dana Williams

Dr. Dana Williams's presentation was one of the best ones mainly because it was the LAST freshman seminar lecture. I was so excited when she said this. Personally, I am tired of being lectured every week on a random topic. It is interesting to hear the different views people have on different issues but there is a certain point where a student can become bored of the same routine. Furthermore, Dr. Dana Willimas went on to talk about the six steps one should follow when conducting research. Similar to the scientific method, a research question much be formulated from a problem that one observes from their surrouding environment. From this problem, questions of investigation shall arise and the researcher must seek the answers to these questions. These questions derive from previous information and knowledge the person may have about the topic that is under investigation. By following the six step method for conducting research, my group presentation should be very successful.

Many of the ideas Dr. Dana Williams expressed during her lecture reminded me of the epistemology class I took while I was in high school. Epistemology is the study of the theory of knowledge and its origins. How does one come to know the things they know is the thesis behind an epistemology class. When conducting a research project the same questions should be evaluated. How do I know the evidence I am using is relevant to my thesis and most importantly, how do i know my evidence is CORRECT? Through the evaluation of our evidence, we must also be able to provide limitations to the knowledge we acquired and the conclusions we reached. This is key information that many people most commonly leave out of their research projects. Knowing this, I will make sure my group provides such valuable information and translates it properly to our audience.

Dr. Cain Hope Felder

Honestly, Dr. Cain Hope Felder's presentation was one of the most boring and ineffective lectures that were given during the freshman seminar lecture periods. He did not use a visual aid which is very important when attempting to keep the attention of college students who have other interests that do not include listening to an hour long lecture whose message is not clearly translated to its audience. Furthermore, he was extremely hard to understand both verbally and intellectually. Maybe my inability to verbally understand him came from my inattentiveness, but it was a challenge to stay awake. Kuddos to who ever did understand the meaning behind the lecture. The parts of the lecture that I did pay attention to seemed like a promotion for his book The Journal of Religious Thought. This lecture should definitely be improved if he is going to continue to give lectures in the freshman seminar class.

On a more positive note, I was able to leave this class period with a slightly greater understanding of how religion can have an affect on a person's understanding of where and who they have derived from. This further assists the thesis that constantly arrises within numerous freshman seminar lectures stating that life derived from Africa. Arguments for and against the idea that all life began in Africa can be given through the evaluation of the religious aspects. Religion is an aspect of knowledge that constantly biased and can actually interrupt the ability to reach a consensus about one's origins. This has been witnessed for years as scientists have attempted to reach a conclusion about the origin of the human species so the same reactions should be expected when we attempt to discover the effect of the African diaspera on the lives of all of earth's inhabitants.

Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

Imagine yourself in a room with 249 listening to a man talk about something that you truly don’t care about after you get out of a tiring Pilates class. Now imagine hearing drums, drawing your attention to the ambiguous sound floating across the room, into the ears of young people who’s DNA are embedded with the many different sounds being displayed. This was my reaction when I sat down to hear another lecture that I had already classified as irrelevant before I had even walked in. The sounds that were being played, and the connection I felt to it was remarkable. I felt like I could hear my ancestors through the simple beat of the drum. Dr. Segun Gbadegesin lecture showed his love for his race, and revealed another aspect to me of how my African ancestors viewpoint besides Christian and Muslim ideals. One idea that stuck with me was the goddess of character, or Iwa. Everything he said had some connection to Iwa. Dr. Segun Gbadegesin said “A man character is a man of wealth.” He reiterated this quite well. From the Principles of Ma’at, which I describe as a mixture of the 10 commandments and common known good deeds, to his story of a man losing his character, everything he said was inspiring. One thing I learned from his speech is that you don’t have to be of a certain classification to live with class. Through his beliefs and through my beliefs, we can both live with character in our life regardless of what we call it.