We will continue to update this page with any changes to our Messina events calendar. Visit our page on the Bridge for event information and registration!
Messina co-sponsored theme-wide and supported events are open to all Loyola community members and the surrounding Baltimore community unless otherwise noted.
January Theme-Wide Events
February Theme-Wide Events
March Theme-Wide Events
April Theme-Wide Events
Messina Supported Events
Wednesday, January 18
MLK Convocation
An evening with author Fr. Bryan Massingale
Father Bryan Massingale, one of the most distinguished voices in theological and social ethics, will deliver Loyola University Maryland’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation address on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. in McGuire Hall. "Racial Justice Then and Now: Honoring the Past, While Looking to the Future" will be moderated by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Ph.D., founding director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice and associate professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola.
Father Massingale will offer new perspectives on the historical and contemporary challenges of racial justice and explore how education can be used to combat racism and promote reconciliation and justice.
This event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is encouraged.
For more information, please call 410-617-2082 or write to OfficeOfTheCEIO@loyola.edu. Closed captioning will be provided.
Sponsored by the President's Office, Office of Equity and Inclusion, the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice, and Messina
A theme-wide event
6:30 p.m., McGuire Hall (Livestream also available)
Saturday, January 21
Duckpin Bowling at Stoneleigh Lanes
Experience duckpin bowling, a variation of bowling which has its origins in the city of Baltimore! Registration via the Bridge is required, as limited tickets are available.
Registration includes 90 minutes of bowling, shoe rental, along with food and refreshments provided by Messina. Students may register for one of two sessions:
- 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. (Shuttle departs Library at 6:45 p.m.; departs Stoneleigh at 8:45 p.m. to return to campus)
- 8:30 - 10:00 p.m. (Shuttle departs Library at 8:15 p.m.; departs Stoneleigh at 10:15 p.m. to return to campus)
Please contact messina@loyola.edu with any questions!
Sponsored by Messina
A theme-wide event
7 - 10 p.m., shuttle departing from Library at 6:45 and 8:15 p.m.
Monday, February 6
Carl F. Cranor Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture featuring Mark D. Hayward
Lecture Topic and Description:
Why is U.S. Life Expectancy Falling Further Behind Other Nations and What Can We Do About It?
Relative to residents of other high-income countries, Americans look toxic. Life expectancy in high-income countries has improved dramatically, except in the United States which has fallen behind. The divergence has occurred unabated for over 40 years. What are the likely factors that underlie this trend? This lecture reviews the ways in which federal policies and the rise of New Federalism may have contributed to this adverse trend in life expectancy. I also raise the issue of how fast-growing geographic inequality of mortality of U.S. states may be dampening the overall national trend. I hypothesize that while much of the geographic divergence reflects many different policies, politics has become a growing force in increasing an array of health risks for many Americans.
Since 1956, the Carl F. Cranor Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has been offering undergraduates the opportunity to spend time with some of America's most distinguished scholars. The purpose of the program is to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus by making possible an exchange of ideas between the Visiting Scholars and the resident faculty and students.
Co-sponsored by Messina and Phi Beta Kappa - Epsilon of Maryland.
A theme-wide event
6 - 7:30 p.m., 4th Floor Program Room
Monday, February 13
Manzanar Through Three Lenses: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyatake
As part of a series of Humanities Symposium events, Loyola Professor of Art Dan Schlapbach will give a lecture on the photography of a World War II internment camp. He will compare the work of Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Toyo Miyatake who photographed the Manzanar Internment Camp and talk about the divergent stories their photographs tell. Although this lecture will provide an especially useful resource for those participating in this year’s Humanities Symposium, you do not need to have read this year’s text in order to appreciate the talk.
Register to Attend this Event on the Humanities Symposium website
Sponsored by the Center for Humanities and Messina
A theme-wide event
6 p.m., 4th Floor Program Room
Thursday, February 23
The Unknown Citizen: Art Installation by Kei Ito
As part of a series of Humanities Symposium events, Kei Ito will create an art installation that speaks to the themes of this year's Humanities Symposium: displacement and belonging. Kei Ito is a visual artist working primarily with camera-less photography and installation art who is currently teaching at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC. Ito received his BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology followed by his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. His works are included in major institutional collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Norton Museum of Art, Chroma at California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Eskenazi Museum of Art.
Register to Attend this Event on the Humanities Symposium website
Sponsored by the Center for Humanities and Messina
A theme-wide event
6 p.m., Opening of Art Installation in McManus Atrium
6:30 p.m., Artist Remarks in McManus Theatre
Wednesday, March 15
The Future of Language Diversity and Academic Writing: A Conversation
The Writing Center and Messina are co-sponsoring a panel discussion between students and faculty to explore how academic writing at Loyola values or minimizes students' voices and identities.
Last year, students voiced concerns about a disconnect between hearing their identities and voices mattered and feeling it was not always welcomed in writing assignments across campus. This panel discussion will aim to better understand how academic writing at Loyola can serve students and honor their diversity as people. It is meant to be a safe space for students to talk to one another and share experiences with engaged faculty members who are listening and responsive to student concerns.
Faculty Panelists are Dr. Whitehead (Karson Institute/Communications); Dr. Roughani (Physics/Assoc. Dean for Sciences) and Prof Southworth (Curriculum Committee/Writing Center). Student panelists are: Taylor Moyer and Smarlyn Ovalles. The event is Wednesday March 15, 6-7pm in the 4th Floor Program Room.
Sponsored by the Writing Center and Messina
A theme-wide event
6:00 p.m., 4th Floor Program Room
Thursday, March 16
Humanities Symposium Keynote Address by Julie Otsuka: “An American Story: War, Memory, and Erasure”
This year’s Humanities Symposium keynote lecture will feature award-winning novelist Julie Otsuka, the author of this year’s Humanities Symposium text When the Emperor Was Divine. This novel, set during World War II, follows a Japanese-American family from their home in Berkeley, California to internment camps in the Utah desert. Otsuka draws on historical research as well as her own family's history to create a spare and imagistic novel told in an inventive style. The novel won the 2003 Asian American Literary Award and the 2003 American Library Association Alex Award. Her second novel, The Buddha in the Attic (Knopf) was a finalist for the National Book Award 2011, won the 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 2011 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction. The Buddha in the Attic was an international bestseller and the winner of the prestigious Prix Femina étranger 2012, and the Albatros Literaturpreis 2013. Otsuka's third novel, The Swimmers, was published by Knopf in 2022.
Register to Attend this Event on the Humanities Symposium website
Sponsored by the Center for Humanities and Messina
A theme-wide event
6:30 p.m., McGuire Hall
Tuesday, March 21
Majors, Minors, & More Fair
First-year students can learn more about potential majors and the major declaration process. Students of all years are welcome to attend to have your questions answered about second majors, minors, accelerated programs, and Career Center resources.
Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Studies and Messina
A theme-wide event
11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m., McGuire Hall
Wednesday, March 22
Loyola Welcomes Brit Bennett: Common Text Keynote
Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller, and her second novel The Vanishing Half was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Her essays have been featured in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Jezebel.
Brit Bennett will join Loyola Faculty Dr. Karsonya Whitehead in a facilitated conversation about The Vanishing Half.
Sponsored by Messina
A theme-wide event
7 p.m., McGuire Hall (with virtual option)
Thursday, March 23
Opening Reception for Heartlines (Common Text Gallery Exhibition)
Featured Artists: Akea Brionne, Phylicia Ghee, & Savannah Wood
Exhibition Dates: Open March 13 – April 11, 2023 -- See the Julio Fine Arts Gallery page for gallery hours or to arrange a visit
Opening Reception: March 23, 6-8 p.m.
The Julio Fine Arts Gallery is proud to present Heartlines, an exhibition response to Loyola’s 2022-2023 common text The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. At its core, The Vanishing Half is about an exploration and journey through the past as connection and disconnection, cultural and familial legacy, racial and generational trauma, and a coming-of-age story that could only happen by tracing those connections, honoring them, and wrestling with the ways in which they shape identity. This exhibition features three artists who, like many of the main characters in The Vanishing Half, are tracing their family’s histories, grappling with cultural legacy, and in some cases racial and generational trauma through their artwork.
Sponsored by Messina
A theme-wide event
6 - 8 p.m., Julio Fine Arts Gallery
Wednesday, March 29
One Question
We have one question for you. Just one. But your answer, a short film, and a conversation with a great panel of speakers will make this an event that you'll keep thinking about.
Sponsored by Messina
A theme-wide event
7 p.m., McGuire Hall West
Thursday, March 30
Democracy and Globalization
A lecture followed by Q&A with Professor Josep Columer, a former professor of political science at Georgetown University in Washington DC, United States, and top speaker on government, democratisation, political institutions, electoral systems and international affairs. Previously, Professor Colomer has worked in many academic roles across the world, including at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Barcelona; the University of Bristol, UK; New York University; Institut d’Etudes Politiques, SciencesPo, Paris; the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, Mexico; amongst others. Professor Colomer has authored and edited 141 scholarly articles, 26 books and 83 book chapters. His books have been translated into English, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, and Russian. He writes about topics such as democratisation, political institutions, electoral systems and international affairs. His latest book, ‘Democracy and Globalization: Anger, Fear and Hope’, which he co-authored with Ashley Beale, was selected by the Financial Times as one of the Best Books of 2020.
Sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Messina
A theme-wide event
6:30 - 8 p.m., 4th Floor Program Room
Thursday, April 13
Ella Baker Day
Tammy Sanders Henderson, is a Senior Lecturer of Africana Studies with a specialty in Black Women’s Studies and public policy. Prior to joining the UMBC faculty in 2011, she was an instructor in African American Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park, and the Academic Program Coordinator for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in Washington D.C. Dr. Henderson earned her Ph.D., from the University of Maryland at College Park in American Studies, along with a Certificate in Women’s Studies. She is the Co-author of Interrogating the Awkward Black Girl: Beyond Controlling Images of Black Women in Televised Comedies (2020) and Co-author of Answering the Call: A (Continued) Response to Sprague’s Call to Action for Instructional Communication Scholars and Beyond (2019).
She is an affiliate faculty with Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, a Graduate faculty member, First Year Experience faculty, and a teaching mentor for College Teaching and Learning Science Certificate Program (CTLS) at UMBC.
Her teaching and research interests include Maternity, Race, and Public Policy, Black Feminist Thought, Black Families, and Black Women: Cross-Cultural Perspectives.
Sponsored by Messina
A theme-wide event
12:15 - 1:15 p.m., McGuire Hall East
Tuesday, April 18
Loyola at the Senator: Environmental Racism and the Black Communities of Maryland with EJJI
Founders of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative, a Black let non-profit in Baltimore, will showcase their 3 short films highlighting how environmental racism impacts Black communities in Maryland with a panel discussion following the films. Descriptions of the films are below:
Highway to Nowhere: It’s a legendary story in Baltimore, one that launched the career of the U.S. Senate’s longest serving woman lawmaker: Barbara Mikulski stopped the highway that would have divided Baltimore. And surely, the feisty activist deserves credit for saving Federal Hill, Fells Point and Leakin Park from the bulldozers. But Mikulski couldn’t prevent what happened first; that the city destroyed a middle-class Black neighborhood on the West Side with a highway that literally went nowhere. Supposed to be a conduit to connect Interstate 70 with the city, engineers designed a sunken, 1.39 mile highway with overpasses that seem to connect nothing. The city abandoned the road project, but not before destroying 971 homes and uprooting thousands of lives, leaving them with increased pollution, a lack of green space, and blight all around. Now, the federal government is providing money to right the wrongs of the Highway to Nowhere. Can it be done in a way that repairs what the residents lost?
Eroding History: Black communities in the United States got the lowest land on which to build their communities, and they are going to be the most vulnerable when the floods come. It’s happening already. Laws, customs and practices continue to discriminate against Black Marylanders, and that’s causing a major erosion not just of land but of tight-know communities that date back to after the Civil War. What will become of them?
Smithville: Luther Cornish is 91, and he is one of three remaining residents of Smithville. A marsh is encroaching on the cemetery where his family members are buried, and he is worried that the graves will soon be inundated with saltwater. What’s the hope for communities like Smithville, and how many more might there be?
Messina is sponsoring a free shuttle service for students to and from this event. Shuttles will pick-up students from the Library and will run on a continuous loop starting at 5 p.m., dropping off in front of the Senator Theatre.
Sponsored by Messina
A theme-wide event
7 p.m., The Senator Theatre