The eager listeners weren’t his usual students, they were community members attending a new lecture series that connects St. Cloud State University professors and other local experts with St. Cloud area residents in an informal discussion setting.
Anabranch is a quarterly series designed to be a gathering where ideas are explored. Each Anabranch lecture is one hour with a 15 minute presentation followed by a time for questions and discussion.
The series is a way to improve the community and quality of life by engaging people in interesting and exciting discussions that will help make St. Cloud the community where employees want to live and employers want to build, said Dan Huwe, College of Liberal Arts experiential learning and community outreach director.
St. Cloud State’s College of Science and Engineering and College of Liberal Arts are partnering with the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation to present Anabranch.
The series is a chance for St. Cloud State’s faculty and other industry leaders to share their innovative ideas with the community at large, said Sonja Gidlow, of the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation.
St. Cloud State faculty are recognized for their contributions in their fields, but don’t often have opportunities to share their knowledge outside of the classroom and conferences in their field, Huwe said.
This split from the usual classroom or conference lecture is what led to the series name. Anabranch is a scientific term for a small branch of a river that breaks off from the main current to form its own path before reconnecting with the main branch, said Steven Janasie, College of Science and Engineering experiential learning and outreach director.
In the series faculty are branching off to talk about their expertise in new ways to new people, Gidlow said.
“The questions they get from me or my colleagues who don’t live in that world are different than what they’d get from their colleagues in the field,” she said. “That is probably refreshing for them.”
Planning is already underway for the next Anabranch lecture in September.
