Dr. Matthew C. Halteman to Deliver Young Harris College’s Ragsdale Lecture

Thursday, January 7, 2016
General College
Lectures & Readings
Sustainability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Kyle Huneycutt
(706) 379-5319,
khuneycutt@yhc.edu

Dr. Matthew C. Halteman to Deliver Young Harris College’s Ragsdale Lecture

Young Harris, Ga. – Matthew C. Halteman, Ph.D, will deliver Young Harris College’s Ragsdale Lecture on Thursday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. in Wilson Lecture Hall of Goolsby Center on the YHC campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Halteman, an associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College, will present a lecture titled “WHO CARES ABOUT ANIMALS?! Animal Ethics in Theory and Practice” at the event. 

Also a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Halteman’s teaching and research interests include 20th-century European philosophy, human/animal studies, and the philosophy of food.

He is the author of “Compassionate Eating as Care of Creation” and a co-editor of “Philosophy Comes to Dinner: Arguments about the Ethics of Eating.” He consumes vegan desserts like they are going out of style even though they are only just now coming into style. 

For more information about this event, please contact Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Mathematics Department Chris Sass, Ph.D., at ctsass@yhc.edu or (706) 379-5365.

About the Ragsdale Lecture Series
The Ragsdale Lecture Series brings national speakers to Young Harris College to discuss relevant governmental and political issues. It was established in 1983 by Mr. and Mrs. H.D. Paris to honor Mrs. Paris’ cousin, Warner B. Ragsdale, a 1917 graduate of Young Harris College who achieved a long and distinguished career in journalism.

After leaving YHC, Ragsdale completed his education at Georgia Institute of Technology. He began his journalism career serving on the staff of newspapers in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Fla., Hendersonville, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Birmingham, New Orleans and Louisville. He joined the Associated Press in 1924 and became associate editor and political editor for the U.S. News and World Report in 1941. He remained in these roles until his retirement in 1970.

During his career in journalism, Ragsdale covered every national political convention held by the Republican and Democratic parties from 1928 to 1968 and traveled during campaigns with Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. One of his career highlights was his coverage of the Scopes Evolution Trial in Dayton, Tenn., in 1925.

In 1937, he was honored by the National Headliners Club for “best feature story of the year” for his story about Al Capone and the Purple Gang. He served as a part chairman of the Executive Committee of the Congressional Periodic Press Gallery. At the time of his death in 1986, Ragsdale was engaged in writing “A Century of Presidential Elections, as seen from over the hill and back of the bus.”

About Young Harris College
Young Harris College is a private, baccalaureate degree-granting college located in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia. Founded in 1886 and historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church, Young Harris College educates, inspires and empowers students through the highest quality liberal arts education. The College currently has more than 1,200 students across five divisions—Education, Fine Arts, Humanities, Mathematics and Science, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The historic campus in Young Harris, Ga., is currently undergoing major campus improvements to accommodate the College’s growth. Recent LEED-certified campus improvements include the 121,000-square-foot Rollins Campus Center, new residence facilities, and a 57,000-square-foot recreation and fitness center. In 2014, the College was granted active membership in NCAA Division II and is a fierce competitor in the prestigious Peach Belt Conference. YHC is among fewer than 300 colleges and universities nationwide named to the 2015-2016 list of Colleges of Distinction. For more information, visit yhc.edu.

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