Philip Zoppi – General Assignment Reporter
Southern held their 11th annual Medieval Conference Lecture on Dec. 2, featuring “Art and Paideia in the Comedia delle ninfe Fiorentine.”
This presentation was conducted by Susanna Barsella, a professor at Fordham University.
Barsella said she enjoys presenting this story because it gives students a different way to think.
“This presentation teaches you to meditate on what is useful for you to learn,” said Barsella. “I wanted students to understand that education isn’t just about learning skills. I wanted students to learn how to think and understand how to express the way they think. That’s the main goal of my presentation.”
Barsella was presenting a story about love. This was an old Italian medieval story that Barsella would tell and then give her input on it throughout.
The presentation was held in Engleman. The room was packed with over 30 students and around a dozen people that came to observe Barsella’s presentation. Students would walk in and out during the presentation, but if a student came late they were hard-pressed to find a seat.
The presentation lasted an hour and afterwards the audience asked several questions about the story Barsella just told. This is one part that Barsella really likes about presenting: answering questions afterwards.
“I never want students to be scared to ask questions because all questions are important,” said Barsella. “With students you get different points of view and different questions and those really help me a lot. Every time I do a presentation I go home and rewrite it based off students’ questions.”
Barsella had a PowerPoint slide that gave the audience a visual representation of what she was saying. Half of the room took notes and asked that Barsella make some of her visuals available online afterwards.
Barsella is very knowledgeable in this subject as she teaches medieval history at Fordham University. Barsella is all about sharing and learning about different people.
“I want everyone to be open, ask questions, criticize each other, and ask questions. That’s all part of learning. You have to exchange ideas and thoughts with many different people,” said Barsella.
Even though this was a presentation on a Italian medieval story, Barsella really urged on the audience to ask questions and talk about their ideas after the presentation was over.
Barsella wanted this presentation to also teach the audience about sharing their ideas in an interesting way and not just learn about the story she was presenting.
Southern plans to hold this event next year as it has been a huge success ever since it started.
Photo Credit: Prof. Tony Di Pietro
HEADER PHOTO: Prof. Susanna Barsella