Popular After Thoughts series returns Oct. 1 at UW-Green Bay

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s popular After Thoughts series of programs will kick off a new season Monday, Oct. 1, with the first of four engaging sessions scheduled for the 2012-13 academic year.

UW-Green Bay Associate Prof. Rebecca Meacham will present “Fiction’s Burning Questions: Novelists, History and the Creative Spark” during the event. Meacham’s address will explore how novelists navigate a process she refers to as “slow, directionless and full of wrong turns” — how they create absorbing fiction from the facts of history, and how they imagine the thoughts and passions of characters often left out of the history books.

Meacham, an associate professor of Creative Writing, English and Women’s and Gender Studies, is on sabbatical for the current academic year, working on her novel about Wisconsin’s Peshtigo Fire of 1871.

“I will discuss how I’m following that spark of imagination to light my way over the dimly lit, half-buried path of history,” Meacham said. “Throughout the event, audience members will engage in a bit of their own creative writing, as well.”

Designed to connect women in the community with UW-Green Bay, After Thoughts gatherings showcase faculty, staff and guests, and convene women after their workdays for learning, enrichment and fun. The sessions provide “After Thoughts” for participants to take with them when they leave. After two successful pilot sessions in spring 2011, the 2011-12 academic year featured four dynamic programs.

The rest of the schedule for 2012-13 is as follows:

• Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012: “The Green Bay Way: The Impact of National Recognition in Collegiate Sports at UW-Green Bay,” by Jeanne Stangel, UW-Green Bay Director of Development and former associate director of UW-Green Bay Athletics

• Tuesday, March 5, 2013: Heidi Fencl, UW-Green Bay assistant professor of Physics and Women’s and Gender Studies

• Tuesday, April 9, 2013: Denise Bartell, UW-Green Bay associate professor of Human Development and Psychology

Each After Thoughts session takes place from 5-7 p.m. in the Grand Foyer of the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts at UW-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive. The events begin with time to network, mingle and enjoy hors d’oeuvres before the featured speaker begins. Seating is limited, so advance registration is recommended. The cost of each program is $13, and attendees are invited to register for each event individually or all four at once. To reserve your spot, send a check (payable to UW-Green Bay Foundation) to: UW-Green Bay Foundation, CL 805, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, Wi 54311; or register online at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/afterthoughts/. Walk-up registration also is an option. Call (920) 465-2074 for more information.

You can find After Thoughts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/afterthoughts.uwgb.

#12-133