One Big Question brings together the campus and broader community to engage in open, respectful, and civic dialogue on critical topics of the day.
Through invited speakers, faculty lectures, cultural performances, specially designed courses, and other events, this annual forum will promote a culture of intellectual inquiry, civic engagement, and respectful exchange of perspectives.
What's the Question? | 2021 - 2022 Academic Year
Why Does it Matter?
Description of Sessions: Throughout the 2021-2022 academic year Shenandoah University’s College of Arts & Sciences, as part of its One Big Question series, will explore a wide array of topics bound together by one central question--why does it matter? Sessions will include presentations in an array of formats and venues and will utilize the talents of faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences as well as presenters from other institutions. Please see descriptions below for further details.
One Big Question Upcoming Events
Session Title: There is More Than Meets the Eye: How Knowledge Shapes Perception and Memory, and Why This Matters for Older Adults
Date: Thursday, March 24
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Hester Auditorium
Presenter: Kimberly Newberry
Some cognitive functions, like perception and memory, naturally worsen with age. During this session, Dr. Kimberly Newberry will discuss the influence of prior knowledge and experience on perception and memory, and how these effects may be used to attenuate cognitive deficits in older adults.
Dr. Newberry joined the psychology department in 2020 after completing her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Her research interests broadly include event perception, comprehension and aging. More specifically, her scholarship focuses on how knowledge influences perception and memory for everyday activities, and how these processes change with age. Her recent publication, “Influences of Domain Knowledge on Segmentation and Memory,” (Memory & Cognition, 2021) investigated how expertise influences the events people perceive and their memory for specific activities, including basketball and a video game. Newberry is currently collaborating with colleagues at Kansas State University on a chapter focusing on how semantic knowledge influences older adults' perception and memory for everyday events.
Session Title: The Global War on Terror and Mass Surveillance: Racializing Muslims in the Name of Security
Date: Tuesday, March 8
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Hester Auditorium
Presenter: Saher Selod, Ph.D., Simmons University
Saher Selod is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Simmons University. She joined the Department of Sociology in 2012 after completing her PhD at Loyola University Chicago. Her research interests are in race and ethnicity, gender, religion and surveillance. Her scholarship examines how Muslim Americans experience racialization in the United States. Her book Forever Suspect: Racialized Surveillance of Muslim Americans in the War on Terror (Rutgers University Press 2018) examines how Muslim men and Muslim women experience gendered forms of racialization through their surveillance by the state and by private citizens. She is currently writing a book with colleagues on the Global Racialization of Muslims, which is under contract at Polity Press. She is also collaborating on a second project that looks at surveillance, policing and political participation of Muslims in the United States that includes the experiences of African American and Black immigrant Muslims. Dr. Selod serves on the Editorial Boards of Ethnic and Racial Studies and Critical Sociology. She is a member of the Scholars Strategy Network and is a Faculty Affiliate for the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers University.
Goals of One Big Question
Create a more cohesive campus community that engages in scholarly and intellectual discussions on a regular basis outside of the traditional classroom setting.
Encourage student engagement with complex and relevant issues from differing perspectives.
Model respectful and open exchanges of viewpoints on these issues.
Selecting the One Big Question
Each year, Shenandoah's College of Arts & Sciences will solicit formal nominations for an annual theme — the “One Big Question” — that frames all events.
In addition to proposing the question around which the series will be centered, those making the proposal will be asked to suggest possible speakers and events.
One Big Question News

One Big Question Concludes Spring Slate With ‘SU Lightning Talk’
Shenandoah University’s One Big Question series will conclude its Spring 2022 slate with a special, quick-hitting session that will touch on a variety of topics. The session, dubbed “SU Lightning ... Continue Reading One Big Question Concludes Spring…

One Big Question Event to Explore Impact of Knowledge and Experience on Perception and Memory
Shenandoah University’s One Big Question series continues its spring slate of events with a session that will explore the impact that knowledge and experience have on perception and memory. The ... Continue Reading One Big Question Event to…

One Big Question Resumes With Session Discussing the Racialization of Muslims
Shenandoah University’s One Big Question series continues during the Spring 2022 semester with events built around a centralized question: Why does it matter? Sessions will include presentations in a ... Continue Reading One Big Question Resumes With…
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