What’s the Big Idea?
In the spring of 2012, the Friday Center offered its popular What’s the Big Idea? lecture series on the topic of brain research—one of the most popular and discussed series ever offered in this program. Many attendees requested a new series with more lectures on the subject of the human brain. So this spring, the Friday Center will offer a follow-up series, with four new presenters sharing their work in four areas of brain research not covered in the 2012 lectures.
Thursdays, 7–9 pm, April 11, 25, May 2, and May 9. $10 per session or the entire series of four lectures for $30. To register for the series, use course #2940. Lectures are held at the Friday Center, UNC-Chapel Hill's premier facility for continuing education. The Friday Center offers free parking, easy access, and comfortable seating.
Join us for an expert assessment
of a very compelling topic:
Exploring the Human Brain—More Big Ideas!
Stroke 101
Thursday, April 11, 7–9 pm. Course #2941
In this presentation, Dr. David Huang will examine stroke types—ischemic strokes versus hemorrhagic strokes—and how they happen. We will discuss the various treatments available for the different types of strokes and what doctors and patients can do to prevent future strokes.
David Huang is Director of UNC Healthcare Comprehensive Stroke Center and Associate Professor of Neurology at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Dance for Parkinson’s… Exploring the Brain’s Movement Potential
Thursday, April 25, 7–9 pm. Course #2942
For people with Parkinson’s disease, dance is a tremendous stimulus for awakening the motor centers in the brain. Today, a global network of more than seventy-five cities exists on dance for Parkinson’s, offering formal classes in ballet, modern dance, Tango, and improvisational dance. Research evidence is robust on the efficacy of dance for promoting functional and cognitive improvements. As a non-pharmacological intervention, dance also provides a means of maintaining functional independence that is enjoyable, expressive, social, and empowering. In this talk, Dr. Glenna Batson will review the evidence on dance and Parkinson’s—not only the functional benefits, but also the positive impact on brain connectivity. She will discuss her recent research on balance, describing the unique improvisational structure that helped participants generate creative movement strategies on their own.
Glenna Batson is a former professor of physical therapy at Winston-Salem State University (retired 2011), and an independent researcher with the Translational Science Center at Wake Forest University.
Brain Development in Infancy and Childhood: Genes, Gender, and Risk for Mental Illness
Thursday, May 2, 7–9 pm. Course #2943
The rapid maturation of cognitive and motor skills in the first two years of life is truly astonishing; the infant learns to walk, talk, and demonstrates significant advances in memory, reasoning, and social understanding. In this talk, Dr. Rebecca Knickmeyer will discuss what neuroimaging has revealed about the structural brain changes that accompany this dramatic functional development, as well as how factors such as genes and gender impact brain development and later risk for mental illness.
Rebecca Knickmeyer is an assistant professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill psychiatry department and a member of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities.
Autism across the Lifespan: A Forty-Year Perspective from the UNC TEACCH Autism Program
Thursday, May 9, 7–9 pm. Course #2944
Our knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder has changed greatly in the forty years since the University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program was created. In this lecture, we will discuss the changing nature of autism across the lifespan of TEACCH and across the developmental lifespan. For example, when TEACCH was created in 1972, one in every 2,500 individuals was thought to have autism. Forty years later, autism is thought to affect one in every 113 individuals. We will discuss the growing need for services and community support that is paralleling this increased rate of diagnosis. We will also discuss autism across the developmental lifespan, including our growing ability to diagnose autism in toddlers and our new knowledge of what autism looks like in adulthood.
Laura Grofer Klinger is the Executive Director of the University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina.
Registration
Each lecture is $10, or you can attend the entire four-lecture series for $30. Payment must accompany registration. Make checks payable to the Friday Center for Continuing Education. Present student ID for free admission. Students should preregister by phone at 919-962-2643 or email conradj@email.unc.edu.
There are four ways to register:
Online: Register online
Mail: Print out the registration form and mail it to
What’s the Big Idea?
Campus Box 1020, The Friday Center
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-1020.
Fax: Print out the registration form and fax it to 919-962-5549.
Phone: Call 800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643.
If you have special needs to accommodate a motor or sensory impairment, please indicate your needs on the registration form.
UNC-Chapel Hill uses an alternative to the Social Security number called the Personal ID (PID) to aid in keeping records for students and participants. If you do not have a PID, you will be required to enter your birthdate, gender, and e-mail address so that we can assign you a PID. We appreciate your cooperation.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is committed to equality of educational opportunity. The University does not discriminate in offering access to its educational programs and activities on the basis of race, color, gender, age, national origin, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Cancellation and Refunds
Cancellations received in writing by April 4, will receive full refunds—this applies only to those who registered for the entire series of four lectures. No refunds will be made after April 4. Refunds cannot be given for individual lectures.
Location
Courses are held at the Friday Center, which offers ample free parking. The Friday Center is located approximately three miles east of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, just off Highway 54 East (Raleigh Road). The Center is a short distance from Interstate 40 (from Raleigh, I-40 exit 273A; from Greensboro, I-40 exit 273). See Map and Directions to the Friday Center.
Contact
For information, contact:
Jill Conrad (conradj@email.unc.edu), Program FacilitatorProfessional Development and Enrichment Programs
The Friday Center
800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643
Previous What's the Big Idea Topics
- Materials of the Future
- Energy and the Environment
- The Human Being in 2050
- The Science of Evolution
- Genetics, Ethics, and Human Health
- We the People: Democracy in America
- Pandemics, Infectious Diseases, and Public Policy
- Global Climate Change: Challenges and Options in North Carolina and Beyond
- Here Today...Here Tomorrow? Sustaining Precious Resources for Our Future
- Extreme Space Above and Below
- Nanotechnology: Big Ideas About Tiny Matter
- Exploring the Human Brain
- Water In Our World
The Friday Center
Campus Box 1020
100 Friday Center Drive
Chapel Hill NC 27599-1020
Phone: 919-962-3000
Toll-free: 866-441-3683
