P. Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the Speaking Intensive Program and the Speaking Center, presented as an invited speaker at the Future of Health Technology Institute’s Summit on May 5, 2014. The meeting was held at MIT’s Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The Future of Health Technology Institute is an MIT think tank that supports research on health care developments. Rao’s talk was titled “Persuasive Health Communications” and was on a program that included researchers and speakers from MIT’s Media Lab, the Whitehead Institute, and Harvard Medical School.
Separation Anxiety (The Health Journals.Com) (Anand Rao)
Rao Presents at National Association of Communication Centers Conference
Anand Rao, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Speaking Intensive Program and the Speaking Center, gave two presentations at the National Association of Communication Centers conference at Arizona State University-West on Friday, April 11, 2014. The first was on “Assessment Best Practices,” and the second was on “Negotiating Identity and Place at Institutions without Communication Majors.”
What is that Mary Washemon Thing We’ve all been Hearing about? (Fredericksburg.Com)
Anand Rao Presents at Workshop in China
Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the speaking intensive program, will be a presenter next week in Shanghai, China, at a debate training workshop for high school English teachers.
The “Training Workshop on the Harvard Debate-National Forensic League Curriculum” will be held from Wednesday, May 23 through Monday, May 28. Rao will be one of four presenters at the workshop, along with Stefan Bauschard (Harvard Debate), Adam Jacobi (National Forensic League), and Ryan Galloway (Samford University). The workshop will be attended by 100 English teachers from 50 of the top magnet high schools across China.
The workshop is sponsored by two government agencies, “The Society of Cultivating Innovators” and “Innovation Method Society,” which are supervised by the Ministries of Education and Technology. The agencies are considered the highest ranking non-profits in China organized by the central government. Harvard Debate and the National Forensic League, the leading organizations for high school debate in the United States, are working with the Chinese agencies to develop a high school debate program for the top students across the country. The workshop is the first presentation of a debate curriculum that is in development by Harvard Debate and the National Forensic League for use in Chinese high schools this coming fall.
Anand Rao to Direct Workshop at Harvard
Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the speaking intensive program, will direct a summer workshop on public speaking and argumentation in Boston, Mass. The workshop for high school students is sponsored by Harvard Debate Council, the officially-recognized debate program at Harvard. The workshop will be held on the Harvard campus from July 15 through 27, and students will work on presentation skills for both live and online audiences. More information about the workshop can be found on the Harvard Debate Council website: https://www.hdcworkshops.org/camps/session/9.
Students Tour Nation’s Capital and Talk Leadership
On Wednesday, March 21, UMW students got an inside look at Washington D.C. and learned about leadership in the process. “Leaders of the Free World: Global Citizenship,” part of the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium, gave 10 students the opportunity to spend the day at the U.S. Capitol Building, while thinking critically about leadership and citizenship.
The group visited Rep. Rob Wittman’s office, took a tour of the Capitol building with aides from Rep. Bruce Braley’s office and talked with Rep. Jared Polis about the importance of education. The students also spoke with Rep. John Lewis for more than two hours about leading through change.
Courtney Chapman-Thomas, director of leadership and coordinator of strategic initiatives, and Anand Rao, associate professor of English and director of speaking intensive programs, accompanied the students, who ranged from freshmen to graduating seniors. The day trip was open to all students on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The next event for the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium will be a leadership discussion and project on Monday, April 2. The discussion will take place in Lee Hall, Room 411 at 6 p.m. and will be based on the topic “I serve, but do I lead?”