St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture at Elms College to Host Distinguished Lecture in Culture on November 10
CHICOPEE, Mass. — The St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture (CERC) at College of Our Lady of the Elms will hold its Inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Culture on Wednesday, November 10 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Due to COVID-19 protocols, this event will be held virtually via Zoom.
The event will feature the keynote speech by Thea James, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine, where she is also President of the Boston Medical and Dental staff, Vice President of Mission, and Associate Chief Medical Officer.
“On behalf of the St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture, I am very pleased and honored that Dr. James will deliver the keynote speech at the Inaugural Distinguished Lecture in Culture,” said Peter A. DePergola II ‘07, Ph.D., MTS, Executive Director of the CERC, Shaughness Family Chair for the Study of the Humanities, and Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Elms.
According to DePergola, James will address the racial, ethinic, and/or cultural inequalities illuminated by the COVID-19 pandemic as it pertains to scarce resource allocation and equitable healthcare delivery.
The St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture was launched in October 2020 to increase engagement and discourse on the most pressing and complex questions related to ethics, religion, and culture in today’s society, and to lead the regional community in thoughtful, engaging dialogue.
“Elms College has a history of uniting individuals together in the common pursuit of addressing fundamental ethical, religious, and cultural issues. This lecture aligns well with Elms’ focus on academic discourse that dates back to the College’s founding in 1928 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield,” DePergola said.
James’ passion is in public health, both domestically and globally. She is Director of the Boston Medical Center site of the Massachusetts Violence Intervention Advocacy Program and is also a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team, under the Department of Health and Human Services, which has responded to several disasters in the United States and across the globe.
James has been part of the emergency response to 9/11 in New York City, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, the earthquake in Iran in 2003, and the earthquake in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti in 2010.
To register, visit https://www.elms.edu/events/st-augustine-cerc-presents-inaugural-distinguished-lecture-in-culture/. A Zoom link will be sent to all participants prior to the lecture.
About Elms College
Elms College is a co-educational Catholic college offering a liberal arts curriculum that prepares students holistically for a purposeful life in a diverse and interconnected world. Founded in 1928 by the Sisters of St. Joseph, Elms College has a tradition of educating reflective, principled and creative learners, who are rooted in faith, educated in mind, compassionate in heart, responsive to civic and social obligations, and capable of adjusting to change without compromising principle.