1/17/2020
FAYETTE, Iowa (January 17, 2020) – The 2019-20 Upper Iowa University Endowed Lecture Series continues Thursday, January 30, with presentations by UIU master of education chair/Laura Heddleson professor of education Dr. Billie Cowley and UIU associate professor of art/McCosh professor of fine arts Elissa Wenthe. Note: The Cowley and Wenthe lecture series presentations were originally scheduled for January 23 but due to a scheduling conflict will now be held January 30.
Cowley, who is also a mental health first aid (MHFA) trainer, will present “Mental Health: Suicide Prevention.” The lecture will focus on signs of suicide and suicide prevention in educational settings.
Cowley earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and endorsements in special education, reading and middle school, and a master’s degree in instructional classroom leadership, at UIU. Her doctoral work was in special education from the University of Northern Iowa. She and her husband, Matthew, reside in Fayette with their four children.
Wenthe’s lecture, “Impact of Arts-Based Community Education,” focuses on the growing partnership between the UIU art program and surrounding community, including relationships developed with Maple Crest Manor (Fayette) and area youth education programs. Arts-based community education was introduced at UIU In spring 2017.
Wenthe earned bachelor’s degrees from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree at Ohio University. She has taught ceramics and sculpture at Upper Iowa University since 2008. Wenthe has exhibited her artwork in solo and small group shows throughout the United States for many years. She has been a resident artist at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York, and Jentel Foundation in Sheridan, Wyoming. Elissa and her husband, Andrew, reside in Fayette with their four children.
The 2019-20 lecture series schedule concludes Thursday, April 2, when UIU professor of geosciences/Delano professor of science Dr. Kata McCarville presents “The Iowan Surface: A Megaflood Landscape.”
Each of the 2019-20 Endowed Lecture Series programs begin at 6:30 p.m. in Baker-Hebron Auditorium at UIU’s Fayette Campus.
