LMC Honors Program holds Civil Discourse on Gun Violence
The Lake Michigan College Honors Program will hold its 2023 Civil Discourse Forum on Gun Violence from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, April 6, in Fettig Lecture Hall (D105) on Lake Michigan College’s Benton Harbor Campus, 2755 E. Napier Ave.
The forum, which is open to the public and also will be available on Zoom, offers an in-depth look at the impact that gun violence has in our schools and communities from the perspectives of policy and military experts, faculty, and healthcare workers who will share their experiences on the issue and ways to improve it.
“This Civil Discourse Forum is designed to hear from diverse voices about the issues students care about,” Lake Michigan College’s Social Sciences, Humanities, & Education Department Chair Amy Scrima said. “The student body is surveyed each Fall, and the Honors Program plans a forum to address those issues with experts and the community. Past topics have included healthcare, social justice, and student debt. The issue of gun violence has been a critical concern for students for quite some time, but when it hit close to home this year, they felt an urgency to act in ways that can bring about change. One of my students said, ‘We need to do something now.‘ Helping students become engaged with the community in positive ways is what the civil discourse series is all about. We look forward to this opportunity to find solutions together.”
Panelists scheduled to speak at the forum are Dr. Sonali Rajan, associate professor of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University, State Rep. Joey Andrews, Ken Peterson, MAJ USA (ret.), Adrianna Retberg and Karlye Visel, both Emergency Department Nurses at Corewell Health.
Dr. Sonali Rajan
Dr. Sonali Rajan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Rajan is currently the Senior Associate Director of the Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Urban and Minority Education and the Inaugural President of the Research Society for Firearm-Related Harms. She is a school violence prevention researcher studying gun violence, school safety, and adverse childhood experiences. Her work prioritizes the need for schools and communities to collectively attend to the well-being of children while keeping them safe, reducing their exposure to violence, and ensuring opportunities for them to thrive.
Rep. Joey Andrews
State Rep. Joey Andrews is serving his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives. He represents the 38th House District, including Benton Harbor and the surrounding lakeshore of Allegan, Berrien, and Van Buren counties. Rep. Andrews was appointed to serve on the following committees: Labor; Energy, Communications, and Technology; Criminal Justice; and Economic Development and Small Business Subcommittee on Housing. As a licensed attorney and former Policy Analyst for the Michigan AFL-CIO, he combines his legal education with a passion for labor and public policy to bring real solutions to the issues facing the Lakeshore. His priorities while in office are improving the criminal justice system, securing the rights of unions and workers, championing renewable energy, and ensuring access to affordable housing.
Ken Peterson
Ken Peterson is a retired U.S. Army officer and retired hospital administrator. He served in the U.S. Army from 1966-1990, including assignments in combat as a Helicopter Pilot with the 101st Airborne Division in South Vietnam and as a Logistics Instructor at the Army’s Command and Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, Kansas. Peterson also completed a career in Hospital Logistics (1990-2011), which included serving as the Vice President for System Logistics at Aurora Health Care, a 12-hospital system headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and as the Vice President Chief Logistics Officer at Alexian Brothers headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Since his retirement, he has been actively involved in local politics and has done research on what would make our neighborhoods, schools, and communities safer.
Adrianna Retberg
Adrianna Retberg, an LMC graduate, has 20 years of experience as an emergency room nurse. She is the Clinical Nursing Educator for three Corewell Health Emergency Departments. She also has been a clinical instructor for LMC’s Nursing program and is currently a trauma nursing instructor through the Emergency Nurses Association.
Karlye Visel
Karlye Visel, an LMC graduate, has been an emergency room nurse for 10 years. Visel is a Clinical Nurse Supervisor in the Emergency Department of Corewell Health South. Visel also grew up in a law enforcement family, which made her aware of gun violence within the community.
The event is free and open to the community. Those who cannot attend in person can join the event through Zoom.
For more information, visit lakemichigancollege.edu/calendar or contact Scrima at 269-927-8777 or ascrima@lakemichigancollege.edu.
