Helen Sterk to give Carey Memorial Lecture

Caitlyn Jenner, the Confederate flag and Donald Trump have one thing in common: they have been the subjects of some of the national stories at the heart of communications in the past year. These types of stories and how they connect people will be the focus of the 5th annual James W. Carey Memorial Lecture at Grand Valley.

Helen Sterk, head of the Department of Communications and professor at Western Kentucky University, will present “Stories at the Heart of Communication” Tuesday, September 22, at 7 p.m. in Loosemore Auditorium located inside the DeVos Center on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

Sterk said her lecture centers around how society can flourish when communication spawns from strong foundations of respect and empathy.

“This past year, stories of race and sex have dominated our national news. Who gets to say what the story is of the Confederate flag? What does a story of serving tea have to do with sexual consent? How did a 60-something he become a she? Stories connect human beings better than any other form of communication and we connect when we understand and care about each other,” Sterk said.

Prior to her time with WKU, Sterk was a professor at Calvin College and chaired the Communication Arts and Sciences department. She received a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater from Calvin College, a master’s degree in speech and theater at WKU and a doctoral degree in rhetoric from the University of Iowa.

The lecture is sponsored by the Communication Studies major, School of Communications, English Department, Liberal Studies major, Institute of General Semantics, Frederik Meijer Honors College, Dean’s Office of the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Dean’s Office of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Provost’s Office.

Carey, who died in 2006 at age 71, was a cultural historian, theorist of communications and an influential teacher of journalists at the University of Illinois and Columbia University. 

 For more information, contact Valerie Peterson, associate professor of communications studies, at (616) 331-2981 or [email protected].