Professor Paul V.M. Flesher directs Saturday U, bringing UW professors to Wyoming communities for free lectures and discussions. Photo by Trice Megginson
With a passion for outreach education, religious studies Professor Paul V.M. Flesher taught UW’s first Internet-only distance course back in 1996. Then, in 2009, he helped found Saturday U, a program that takes UW professors out into the state to give free talks and discussions. Flesher still directs the program today—a program that has now touched hundreds of residents.
“I thought it was important to get the faculty out into the state so that people could see what excellent faculty members we have in a wide variety of subjects,” he says. “We can draw from all faculty members at UW, both in Laramie and at the Casper campus. We cover anything from wildlife to Shakespeare, to intellectual history, to art and music, to nursing and health.”
Saturday U is sponsored by the UW Outreach School, the Wyoming Humanities Council and the UW Foundation, joined by local supporters in each host city.
“At the moment, we go twice a year to Jackson, to Sheridan and to Gillette,” Flesher says. “It’s a Saturday morning event. I find three professors of various disciplines and subjects from UW (and sometimes community colleges), and I take them to one of our locations, and they each give a talk about an hour long. Then, over lunch, we have a roundtable discussion.
“We get very positive feedback from the people who come,” he says, adding that attendance varies from 35 to 130 people per event, with Jackson being the oldest and best-attended location.
Flesher says the attendees love the events and often gather around the professors to extend the conversation afterwards. “I can’t think of a single professor who hasn’t come back enthused about the response they got, about how the crowd reacted to them and about the interest they showed,” he says.
In addition to the live events, the lectures—nearly 100 to date—are available on YouTube and through the Saturday U website (uwyo.edu/saturdayu[BROKEN LINK]).
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