Arts & Sciences Events
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Arts & Sciences
[PAST EVENT] Raft Debate - A W&M Tradition
October 6, 2014
6:30pm - 8pm
The 2014 Raft Debate will be held on Monday, October 6, at 6:30 p.m. in PBK Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Described as a "delicate balance of comedy and lecture," the annual Raft Debate features four W&M faculty members from diverse disciplines, stranded on a desolate island with only a one-person life raft for escape to civilization. Which faculty member should survive for the sake of humanity? Based on the volume of applause, the audience chooses the sole survivor as the professors cajole, plead, pontificate and resort shamelessly to props and costumes.
The quirky event originated in the mid-1900s and was revived during the 2000s by the Graduate Center, the A&S Office of Graduate Studies and Research, and the A&S Graduate Student Association. Faculty participants represent the Humanities, the Social Sciences, or the Natural and Computational Sciences. The Devil's Advocate, who argues sarcastically that none of the academic disciplines are worth saving, has on rare occasion emerged victoriously.
2014 participants are:
Humanities, Charles Palermo, Associate Professor, Art and Art History
Natural/Computational Sciences, Patricia Vahle, Associate Professor, Physics
Social Sciences, Rob Hicks, Professor, Economics
Devil's Advocate, Andreas Stathopoulos, Professor, Computer Science
Judge, Virginia Torczon, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research
Described as a "delicate balance of comedy and lecture," the annual Raft Debate features four W&M faculty members from diverse disciplines, stranded on a desolate island with only a one-person life raft for escape to civilization. Which faculty member should survive for the sake of humanity? Based on the volume of applause, the audience chooses the sole survivor as the professors cajole, plead, pontificate and resort shamelessly to props and costumes.
The quirky event originated in the mid-1900s and was revived during the 2000s by the Graduate Center, the A&S Office of Graduate Studies and Research, and the A&S Graduate Student Association. Faculty participants represent the Humanities, the Social Sciences, or the Natural and Computational Sciences. The Devil's Advocate, who argues sarcastically that none of the academic disciplines are worth saving, has on rare occasion emerged victoriously.
2014 participants are:
Humanities, Charles Palermo, Associate Professor, Art and Art History
Natural/Computational Sciences, Patricia Vahle, Associate Professor, Physics
Social Sciences, Rob Hicks, Professor, Economics
Devil's Advocate, Andreas Stathopoulos, Professor, Computer Science
Judge, Virginia Torczon, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research
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