Professor Beth Stapleton Lectures on Cuba and Linguistics

Dr. Beth Stapleton, who's the speaker in a Mississippi Humanities Council lecture on Monday, Oct. 29 at MC.

Many people know that Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and located 90 miles from Key West, Florida.

Mississippi College students, faculty and staff plus Jackson area residents will learn much more about Cuba and the subject of linguistics by attending an upcoming lecture by MC professor Beth Stapleton.

The chair of MC’s Department of Modern Languages since 2007, Stapleton is presenting the annual Mississippi Humanities Council lecture on the Clinton campus. The event at 7 p.m. on October 29^th is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the one-hour event in Anderson Hall West.

Her lecture is titled “How Linguistics Can Take You Around the World – Interviews in Cuba 2012.”

Folks should attend if they want to learn more about the people of Cuba and the interesting subject of linguistics, the Mississippi College graduate says. “What was most striking to me about the people of Cuba is that even living in such an oppressive Communist society, they were still happy and living life fully,” she said. “They have learned how to make adjustments in life with Castro.”

Stapleton has been a world traveler in recent years. Trips have taken her to Cuba, Costa Rica, and Europe and she plans to visit Australia with an MC delegation this spring. The Georgia native often combines sightseeing with scholarly research on her trips many miles from home.

The MC Student Government Association named Stapleton, who speaks fluent Spanish, the Christian university’s Professor of the Year in 2012. She holds a doctorate from Louisiana State University.

Gary Mayfield, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, says he’s hoping to see a good turnout from members of the university family and the community.

The Mississippi Humanities Council is a private nonprofit corporation funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information, contact Gary Mayfield at 601.925.3849 or Mayfield@mc.edu.