Clark’s Higgins School of Humanities’ spring 2015 dialogue symposium focuses on ‘play’

This semester, the Clark University Higgins School of Humanities‘ dialogue symposium is focusing on “The Work of Play” and how play thrives in our achievement and results-oriented society. We will consider free play and games, cooperation and competition, sports and technology. Filmmaker Jay Shapiro ’04 will be at Clark on April 1 for a screening and conversation Programming will explore how play provide space for fantasy, diversion, and escape. It will also examine when challenges the status quo and when it re-inscribes existing hierarchies. “Americans seem to be playing less and less, as increases in leisure time are offset by new technologies that keep us tethered to work. Equally troubling, our culture’s insistent drive for results has placed outcome over process, completion over exploration, winning over learning or enjoying the game,” wrote Amy Richter, director of the Higgins School for Humanities. “Still we know play matters. It inspires creativity, builds communities, reveals and challenges boundaries. It is a form of what we have come to refer to as effective practice, and as such may offer new insights into larger concerns.” For a full list of events, visit: Higgins School of Humanities All events in the symposium are free and open to the public and are sponsored by the Higgins School of Humanities with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information, contact 508-793-7479 or HigginsSchool@clarku.edu.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Nationally renowned as a college that changes lives, Clark is emerging as a transformative force in higher education today. LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice) is Clark’s pioneering model of education that combines a robust liberal arts curriculum with life-changing world and workplace experiences. Clark’s faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University’s motto: Challenge convention. Change our world. Related articles: “Work hard, play hard: Clark U. series looks at the role of fun,” Worcester Telegram & Gazette, February 2, 2015