Sterling College's "Virtues of Place" symposium will include a panel discussion and a lecture. Through Wendell Berry's writing on place and community, we hope to further discussion about living and serving in rural Kansas. Registration is free.

Register Here

Schedule of Events

Panel Discussion: "Caring for Rural Places and Communities"
Featuring Aubrey Streit Krug from The Land Institute and Jeffrey Bilbro and Jack R. Baker from Spring Arbor University

Monday April 29th, 2019
4:00pm
Sterling College
Student Union - Cornerstone
125 W. Cooper Ave, Sterling, KS 67579

Lecture: "Cultivating Virtues of Place with Wendell Berry"
Offered by Jeffrey Bilbro and Jack R. Baker

Monday April 29th, 2019
7:00pm
Sterling College
Cooper Hall - Heritage Hall
125 W. Cooper Ave, Sterling, KS 67579

"Humans must learn to live in harmony with the natural rhythms of earth or perish." - Wendell Berry

Scholars

Aubrey Streit Krug - Sterling College

Aubrey Streit Krug
Director of Ecosphere Studies
The Land Institute

Streit Krug earned a Ph.D. in English (American U.S. & Idigenous literature) and Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is currently the Director of Ecosphere Studies at The Land Institute in Salina, KS. Streit Krug is a writer and teacher in the environmental humanities who studies stories of relationships between humans and plants. 
 

Jeff Bilbro - Sterling College

Jeffrey Bilbro
Associate Professor of English
Spring Arbor University

Bilbro holds a B.A. in Writing/Literature from George Fox University and a Ph.D. in English from Baylor University. He now teaches at Spring Arbor University in rural Michigan. He has published widely on Wendell Berry, American literature, education, and culture. His books include Loving God's Wildness: The Christian Roots of Ecological Ethics in American Literature (2015) and Virtues of Renewal: Wendell Berry's Sustainable Forms (2018). Bilbro is a co-author of Wendell Berry and Higher Education: Cultivating Virtues of Place (2017), a book that addresses many issues pertinent to rural communities at a time when life in such places requires a special kind of courage and integrity.
 

Jack Baker - Sterling College

Jack R. Baker
Associate Professor of English
Spring Arbor University

Baker holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Worldview studies from Cornerstone University, a M.A. in Medieval Studies from Western Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Purdue University. He now serves as a professor in a rural community in Michigan. With Jeffrey Bilbro, Baker has authored two books, Wendell Berry and Higher Educations: Cultivating Virtues of Place (2017) and Telling the Stories Right: Wendell Berry's Imagination of Port William (2018).