Stories of Hope and Belonging From our Current Moment
The Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion is presenting its 4th event in the Love Button Lecture Series, titled “Stories of Hope and Belonging From our Current Moment,” on Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. in the Bronco Student Center, Ursa Major.
The event will be led by Professors Wendy Petersen-Boring and David Gutterman from Willamette University. They are co-founders of the Conversation Project.
The Conversation Project was created in response to the divisiveness seen on their campus during the first Trump administration. “Students were reluctant to share and have conversations about big issues,” Gutterman said.
Professors Peterson-Boring and Gutterman asked, “how can we create worlds together and develop the social cohesion skills that are essential to democracy.” Their approach was to look at how community organizations were coming together and what best practices they were using.
Guided by what the learned, they developed curriculum and practices appropriate to the Willamette campus. The Conversation Project philosophy is to start with understanding as opposed to persuasion. Not to lead with anger, hate, or overreact, but rather to confront with openness and a willingness to learn.
“This approach centers on storytelling. Story sharing and story listening as a means to bridge divides,” Peterson-Boring said.
Two cohorts of students at Willamette have learned how to curate and facilitate difficult conversations.
The Cal Poly Pomona event will focus on themes of resilience, courage, and belonging. Attendees will engage in story listening and sharing to create a sense of community.
Love Button Lecture Series
The Love Button Lecture Series was created to support the psycho-social needs of university students. The series is funded by an endowment from the Love Button Global Movement Integrative Research and Outreach Program. Love Button was founded by alumnus Dr. Habib Sadeghi (’91, microbiology) and his wife Dr. Sherry Sami.
Since its inception in 2019, the series has hosted three events. In 2024 the lecture was presented by Beggi Olafs, motivational speaker and champion soccer player from Iceland. His lecture was titled, “Better Today Than Yesterday,” and provided practical tips for building a better life, drawn from his own experience in becoming a professional athlete.
The 2023 lecture was titled, “Self-Care & Mental Wellness: Conversations to explore generational patterns, break cycles, and find solutions,” presented by the group Calibrate.
The inaugural lecture was given by Lecturer Alane Daugherty, who oversees the series. Her presentation was titled, “From Stress and Anxiety to Resilience and Success.” Daugherty is lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, and co-founder of the CPP Mind and Heart Research Lab. She teaches stress management techniques to several hundred students every semester.
Daugherty’s work on emotional healing and the mind/body connection includes research into the neuroplasticity of the brain. The Mind and Heart Research Lab employs scientific methods in the form of biofeedback to help students on their journey toward a less stressful, more connected existence.
“The Love Button Global Movement fosters acts of kindness, collaborating with organizations and individuals who transform and uplift the lives of our human family.”