College to host lecture and video presentation on award-winning documentaries created by Hawaiian students.

CONTACT:  Nancy Nanney, Humanities Division chair, 304-424-8361.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Virginia University at Parkersburg's Humanities Speakers Series will host a lecture and video presentation, “Viewing Pacific and Northwest Cultures Through the Eye of the Lens” at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday (July 12).

Free and open to the public, the presentation will be held in Room 1314.  Presenter will be Patricia Gillespie, a video production teacher at Kamehameha Secondary School in Honolulu, Hawaii.  She and her students have traveled abroad and produced national award-winning cultural documentaries. They have filmed in Tahiti, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, China, Indonesia, the Marquesas, and Rapa Nui. Most recently, they journeyed to Alaska.

The videos have been used to teach media literacy as part of the curriculum of the Kamehameha Schools and for the State of Hawaii. Some of the videos have been screened by PBS Hawaii, the National Educational Network, the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, and the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Ms. Gillespie received a bachelor of arts degree in English from Youngstown State University and a master's in Theatre Education from Boston University.  Her interest in Asia and the Pacific grew out of her experience as a member of the Peace Corps in Sabah, Malaysia.

Additional information about the presentation is available by contacting the college's Humanities Division office, 424-8301.

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For additional information, contact:
Connie Dziagwa
WVU Parkersburg
Executive Director
Institutional Advancement
(304-424-8203)