About
Pandora’s Box in Greek mythology
Pandora’s Box Film and Speaker Series: we take our name from Greek mythology, the myth where Pandora’s curiosity gets the better of her and she opens a box filled with societal ills. After they are unleashed upon society, only one item in the box remains: hope.
Consequently, the documentaries we show tend to expose societal ills in order to create awareness and discussion in the hope that students will work to change them.
History of the series
Developed in the early fall of 2004 by a few faculty and staff from Houston Community College’s Katy Campus (Cindy Belmar, Patience Evans, Lori Greig, Tom Haymes, Gary Leblanc, Kent McGaughy, Michael Ronan, Mark Tiller, and others) in discussions with and participation by Ann Bragdon, advisor to the Anthropology Club and developer of the highly acclaimed REEL Culture Film & Speaker Series at the Town & Country Campus.
Goals
- Expose students to alternative points of view through films on social issues;
- Create an extracurricular activity where students and instructors mix and develop discourse beyond the classroom;
- Include participation and presentations from a wide variety of disciplines.
Approach
- Multidisciplinary: faculty from different disciplines to present each film
- Ten weeks: speakers and/or a new film every week shown Monday and Tuesday
- Student and faculty discussions afterwards
- Involvement of outside community
- Solicitation of outside speakers
Results
- This fall will be our third semester
- Participation by Eighteen faculty and staff:
- IT Department, English, Government, History, Anthropology, Science, Math, Economics, Geology
- Tasks: Discussion leaders, programming, marketing materials, web site development, finding speakers, financing, and accounting.
- 400 plus students attended events in spring 2005.
Themes
- Fall 2005 – Images: Truth, Power, and the Media
- Spring 2005 – Reflecting on Imperialism
For more information
For more information on or to participate in the Pandora’s Box Film and Speaker Series call (713) 718-5750 or email michael.ronan@hccs.edu.