Syracuse Symposium Kicks Off ‘Listening’ Theme with Best-Selling Author, Facilitator

Wednesday, August 28, 2013, By Rob Enslin
Misha Glouberman

Misha Glouberman

Misha Glouberman, a Toronto-based improvisational artist and sought-after expert on negotiation and communication, is kicking off the 2013 Syracuse Symposium, whose theme is “Listening.” He will speak on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Room 107, Hall of Languages. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the SU Humanities Center, administered by The College of Arts and Sciences.

The following day, Glouberman will participate in an HC Mini-Seminar, moderated by the Maxwell School’s Robert A. Rubenstein, professor of anthropology and international relations, as well as former director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. The mini-seminar will run from 9 a.m. to noon in Room 304 of the Tolley Humanities Building. Breakfast is included, and registration is required. To learn more about Syracuse Symposium or to R.S.V.P. for the mini-seminar, contact the SU Humanities Center at 315-443-5708.

“We are honored to present Misha Glouberman, who is renowned for his innovative design and facilitation of highly participatory events,” says Dympna Callaghan, the college’s William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters and interim director of the SU Humanities Center. “He is passionate about how people connect with one another and, by combining a creative people-centered approach with analytic rigor, has become a master of conflict resolution, communication and negotiation.”

Glouberman’s lecture will draw heavily on his nonfiction best-seller, “The Chairs Are Where the People Go: How to Live, Work, and Play in the City” (Faber & Faber, 2011), praised by The New Yorker as a “triumph of … conversational philosophy.”

A former software developer with a Harvard philosophy degree, Glouberman is the host of Trampoline Hall, a monthly lecture series at which people speak on subjects outside their expertise. He also teaches a popular series of courses collectively titled “How to Talk to People About Things.”