On Tuesday, February 13th, the department’s Dr. Helen Lowman delivered the first Inklings talk of the spring semester. Entitled “National Service Models: Exploring Options,” the talk explore various forms of national service including the military, the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. After the presentation, Dr. Lowman opened the floor for participants to ask questions about her experience in the Peace Corps and national service.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Dr. Lowman was the organization’s Director for Volunteer Recruitment and Selection from August 2013 to October 2015, and as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s associate director for individual and community preparedness from November 2015 to January 2017.
Brandon Bain, a graduate student in the department who attended the event, said that “Dr. Lowman’s perspective on National Service provided valuable insight into the different service models and interesting information about potential future career options.” Kyle Turner, another graduate student who participated in the conversations following the presentation, said that “as a veteran, I found her discussion of selective service and how it works very interesting.”
The original Inklings consisted of a small group of intellectuals (whose ranks included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) who met weekly at Oxford University to read aloud and discuss their works in a spirit of fellowship and civil conversation. In the spirit of these Inklings, the Department of Political Science at Texas State University has held similar gatherings for more than two decades.
For more information on the series, please contact Dr. Arnold Leder at al04@txstate.edu.
