This year's Downstate Illinois Faculty & Grad Student Conference will be held on Saturday, March 4, 2006, at the University of Illinois-Urbana.

Dr. Robert Fortner, Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College and Director of Research and Training for Words of Hope will address the topic: "Communication, Culture, and Christian Commitment: Christians in Academe Reflecting Christ in Their Worlds." He will help us examine the complexities of communication in today’s world and analyze how we could and should communicate Christ in our everyday professional life, research, teaching, and our life with peers on the campus.

Dr. Fortner is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he received his Ph.D. in 1978. His books include Radio and Culture: Morality, Meaning, and Technology in Great Britain, America, and Canada; The Most Human Act: Communication Theory and the Mediation of Experience; and International Communication: History, Conflict, and Control of the Global Metropolis. He has many other journal articles and published essays, and he teaches courses in "Audio Design and Aesthetics," "Theories of Communication," "Writing for the Media," "Political Economy of Communication," and "International Communications."

For more information about the conference, download the conference brochure, or contact Terry Morrison, Director Emeritus of InterVarsity's Faculty Ministry.