What’s Love Got to Do with It

By Angela Askey, Executive Director Public Relations and Marketing

Central Arizona College professors and local community representatives will participate in a friendly debate on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Don P. Pence Center for Visual & Performing Arts (8470 N. Overfield Road, Coolidge AZ 85128.)

The debate titled, “What’s Love Got to Do with It: The State of Love in American Society” will look at how the word “love” is used and viewed from different perspectives.

Derrick Span, CAC Professor of Sociology and Philosophy will demonstrate that love does not exist in fact as an entity but that love is purely a form of heightened self-interest.

Dr. Sandra Rath, Professor of Communication Studies will explain how limits in our use of the English language keep us from fully expressing the highly nuanced concept of love; and thus, keeps us from effectively expressing and communicating our understanding of love.

An Arizona licensed psychologist since 1983, Dr. Carlos Vega believes “love” or lack thereof is invariably intertwined with psychological health or illness. He also believes “love” is defined in a variety of ways, as evident in the fact that he loves his wife, children, his pug, Muggles, Cuban coffee, and racquetball.

Justin Olmstead is a Reading and Writing Tutor at the CAC San Tan campus. He has ten years of experience in both licensed and lay Christian ministry. To the best of his ability, Justin represents the Eastern Orthodox view that love is both substantive and relational, being grounded in the life of the All-Holy Trinity and in the human person as being made in the image of God.

Thomas Williams serves as Chief Sustainability Officer for the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), through which he is establishing an organizational structure for sustainability including all aspects of the Triple Bottom Line – Environmental Responsibility, Economic Feasibility, and Social Equity. As a Board member for Equality Maricopa, and through his role on the non-profit Board for Keep Scottsdale Beautiful he is committed to creating awareness of social justice efforts, and fostering local initiatives to improve our quality of life.

Thao Nguyen is a CAC graduate who now attends ASU, studying Actuarial Science. She believes true love exists in many different forms than just in the form of relationship. In our world today, where we are more and more driven by many outside factors (materialism and technology), we are most likely to disconnect with our inner self and fail to feel and demonstrate our love towards others. That is why love becomes harder and harder to find and feel. Her goal is to share the viewpoint of love from an Asian perspectives as well as her personal perspective.

Dr. Derrick L. Span explains, “The goal of the debate is to create intellectual interaction and dialogue between faculty, students and the entire CAC community,” He added, “This debate will mark the second debate in what we call “The Social and Behavioral Sciences Semi-Annual Academic Roundtable and Debate Series.” The series provides a collegial forum and platform for CAC faculty and students to present professional papers and positions on contemporary social problems. Furthermore, the series aim is to provide an atmosphere of faculty collegiality and better understanding and appreciation for CAC’s extraordinary academic expertise.”

A moderator will open the debate with greetings and an introduction of the panel. Each participant will have two to three minutes to provide an opening statement, followed by the debate. Near the end of the debate, the moderator will inform each participant they have three minutes to give closing remarks. There will be an opportunity for a question and answer session at the end.

This event is free for community members, students and employees. To reserve a seat, visit www.eventsatcac.com or call (520) 477-7469 for further information.