Walter J. Ong Conference

Language, Culture, and Identity; The Legacy of Walter J. Ong, S.J.

A conference celebrating the Jesuit gift of the Ong Archive to the Saint Louis University Libraries

April 7th and April 8th, 2005

Schedule Of Events

Thursday, April 7, 2005
8:30-9:30am     Breakfast Meeting to Plan the Walter J. Ong Center for Language
                            and Culture  (SLU Ong Committee and National Advisory Board
                            only)   BSC 352
10-11:30am      Panel: Current Research (St. Louis Room)
                            Kathleen Welch
                            Paul Soukup, S.J.
                            Lance Strate
                            Stephen Casmier
                            Thomas Farrell, Moderator
12-1:00pm         box lunch   BSC 251
1-2:30pm           Catherine Snow, plenary lecture (St. Louis Room)
                            Introduction: Ron Kellogg
3-4:30pm           Roy Shafer, plenary lecture (St. Louis Room)
                            Introduction: Sara van den Berg
5-6:00pm           Exhibit, Walter J. Ong Archive (Pius XII Library)
                            John Waide, SLU Archivist
                            John Walter, Ong Archive Research Assistant
6:30-8:30pm      Dinner (Cupples House)
                         van transportation to Water Tower Inn

Friday, April 8, 2005
8:30-9:45am     Breakfast Meeting to Plan the Walter J. Ong Center for Language
                            and Culture (SLU Ong Committee and National Advisory Board
                            Only) BSC 352
10-11:30am      Panel: Current Research (St. Louis Room)
                            C. Jan Swearingen
                            Walter Jost
                            John Miles Foley
                            John Pauly
                            Paul Acker, Moderator   
11:30am            van transportation to LRC
12-1:30pm        Tod Chambers, Drummond Lecture in Bioethics: "The Bioethicist's                             Audience Is Always a Fiction" (LRC Auditorium)
1:30pm              van transportation to Busch Student Center
2-3:00pm          Remembering Walter Ong: A Panel Discussion (St. Louis Room)
                            John Padberg, S.J.
                            Thomas Zlatic
                            Thomas M. Walsh 
                            Vincent Casaregola, Moderator
 3:30-5pm          Charles Taylor, plenary lecture (St. Louis Room)
                            Introduction: James Bohman
5:30-7pm           Closing Reception (Jesuit Hall, first floor lounge)
7:00pm              van transportation to Water Tower Inn

For more information on Walter J. Ong and his legacy click here.

September 2004

MMLA 2004
The 2004 MMLA Conference, to be held in St. Louis, will feature three sections on "Walter J. Ong in the 21st Century."

Session A
Topic: Ong and Performance
Coordinator: John Walter, Saint Louis Univ.

1. "Words, Signs, and Events," by John Miles Foley, Univ. of Missouri at Columbia

2. "On the 'Original Sayings' of Jesus: Oral and Scribal Dynamics in Late Antiquity," by Werner H. Kelber, Rice Univ.

3. The Performance of Ong," by Thomas Zlatic, St. Louis College of Pharmacy

4. "Orality and Literacy: Classical and Folk Versions of the Mahabharata," by Nimala Menon, George Washington Univ.

Session B
Topic: Ong and Rhetoric
Coordinator: Gina Merys Mahaffey, Saint Louis Univ.

1. "Rhetoric and Hermeneutics 1250-1650: the Legacy of Walter J. Ong," by Jan Swearingen, Texas A&M Univ.

2. "Ong's Histories of Rhetoric," by Terri Palmer, York Univ.

3. "Ong and (or versus) Derrida on Presence: A Case of a Conflict of Traditions," by John D. Schaeffer, Northern Illinois Univ.

Session C
Topic: Pedagogy, Practice, Technology and Ong
Coordinator: Deborah M. Scaggs, Saint Louis Univ.

1. "Walter Ong and Secondary Orality: Interpreting the Electronic Paradigm," by Sharon Cumberland, Seattle Univ.

2. "The Paradox of 'Oral Residue,'" by Thomas M. Walsh, Saint Louis Univ.

3. "Walter J. Ong: The Archival Record," by Robert Blaskiewicz, Saint Louis Univ.

August 2004
A great article on Fr. Ong and communication can be found here.

July 2004
A conference celebrating the Jesuit gift of the Ong Archives to Saint Louis University is planned for April, 2005.

The complete bibliography of Fr. Ong's works is being compiled and will be posted on this website.

August 12, 2003
Father Ong passed away at the age of 90. "Today we have lost one of Saint Louis University's, indeed higher education's, greatest treasures," said University President Lawrence Biondi. Ong is survived by several cousins. He asked that his body be donated to science. Visitation will be held from 6:45-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19, in St. Francis Xavier College Church. A memorial mass will be held immediately following at 7:30 p.m. in the church. Check Newslink for additional information.

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