Radio Talk Show Spotlights Interests of Faculty from Worcester Colleges

With 13 colleges in Worcester County, the Central Massachusetts area holds hundreds of knowledgeable professors who are experts in a wide variety of fields.

In an effort to acquaint the community with the broad research, writing and teaching interests of these talented faculty members, "Worcester: Academically Speaking," a weekly half-hour radio program, features professors who share their insight into particular fields with listeners.

The show’s host Paul W. Bruno, Ph.D., a professor of philosophy at Providence College, says people in the community can tune in to the show to learn about a range of topics from professionals that they otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to hear.

"I think it’s important to give a voice to the many professors at the colleges of Worcester," Bruno says. "Oftentimes, professors are engaging in esoteric research that people don’t realize. And sometimes it’s not so esoteric - it has a bearing on how we live our lives."

There has been an assorted mix of topics - ranging from Crohn’s disease to sweatshop labors - since the show began broadcasting in September 2002.

"I had a physics professor from Holy Cross," says Bruno, referring to Timothy Roach. "We were talking about quantum mechanics. It was an educational experience for me. It’s a really eclectic show; you don’t know what you’re going to get each week. It’s been rewarding to hear of so many different people’s scholarships and achievements."

Recently, Bruno also enjoyed interviewing Victor Matheson, assistant professor of economics, for the show. The discussion involved a wide variety of topics related to the economics of sports including the economic impact of large sporting events such as the World Series and Super Bowl, the root causes of the current NHL strike and its likely long-term effect on the league, and the effect of big-time college athletics on college finances.

"In many ways it was a classic show. Victor conducts economic analyses of sporting events. We hear from politicians that these are great cash windfalls to build a city or to have a Super Bowl come to town. And Victor conducted a study and basically determined that’s not true. And so it presented a very different view of what we’re used to."

The program has featured a number of other professors from Holy Cross, including Susan Rodgers, sociology and anthropology; Stephanie Yuhl, history; Jerry Lembcke, sociology and anthropology; and Fr. William Clark, religious studies.

"Worcester: Academically Speaking" airs on WTAG 580 AM on Sundays from 7:30 - 8 a.m. and is sponsored by the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. Upcoming shows that will feature professors from Holy Cross

March 20 (part 1) and March 27 (part 2) Jeffrey Bloechl, assistant professor, Philosophy "Naming God" Drawing on both personal experience and the western intellectual tradition, Professor Bloechl will share reflections on the nature of Christian faith and thought, and their relation to modern culture. Resisting the temptation to make either of these two subordinate to the other, and rejecting the idea that they are in substantial agreement, his perspective is trained on the pressure each places on the other, and thus on what he is inclined to understand as an irreducible tension between them.

April 3 (part 1) and April 10 (part 2) Bill Roorbach, visiting professor, English "American Letters" Novelist ("The Smallest Color") and essayist ("A Place on the Water"), Professor Roorbach holds the Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters. This conversation will center on truth and fiction: how the facts inform fiction, how the imagination makes nonfiction real.