Video of Programs (search and sort)

Relational Frame Theory and Spiritual Development
10/28/2012
Hank Robb

Relational Frame Theory (RFT) provides a theory of language rooted in the Radical Behavioral tradition of B. F. Skinner after recognizing and addressing the problems with the theories Skinner advanced in the book Verbal Behavior. Rather than "represent things," words are viewed as cues for the important behavior of relating. The basic approach of RFT will be outlined and the implications for "spiritual development" will be discussed. Hank Robb received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Nebraska in 1978. He has served as Director of Counseling and Associate Professor of Psychology at Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho. Since 1986, he has maintained a private practice in Lake Oswego. He also serves as adjunct faculty and a clinical supervisor at Pacific University's Psychological Service Center. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. He is licensed as a psychologist in Oregon and he is recognized by the Humanist Society as a Humanist Minister. In this capacity he conducts weddings and funerals as well as addresses contemporary issues from the perspective naturalistic humanism. He and his wife live in Lake Oswego and are the parents of two adult daughters.

Beyond Bars: Re-envisioning the Prison System
10/14/2012
Walidah Imarisha

What role do prisons serve in our country? Is it possible to envision a world where people are safe and secure, and where there is accountability, without prisons? Does our prison system, in some cases, actually cause rather than reduce crime? After a brief multimedia history of prisons and alternative justice systems, Walidah Imarisha, author and adjunct professor in Portland State University’s department of Black studies, leads a conversation about alternatives to incarceration. Walidah Imarisha has taught in Portland State University’s Black studies department, where she has created classes about topics as diverse as the history of the Black Panther Party, race and the history of prisons, Hurricane Katrina, and hip hop as literature. She has facilitated writing workshops, for students in third grade to twelfth, in community centers, youth detention facilities, and women’s prisons. Imarisha was a founding editor of AWOL, a national political hip hop magazine. She has toured nationally and internationally as part of the poetry duo Good Sista/Bad Sista. Imarisha has been featured on several hip hop CDs, and her work was anthologized in Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip Hop. Imarisha also filmed and codirected Finding Common Ground in New Orleans, a documentary about Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.

Gun Violence
09/23/2012
Penny Okamoto

Penny Okamoto presents a discussion of the prevalence of violence nationally and worldwide with special attention to major components of gun violence in America. She looks at gun laws in America and in Oregon. She asks: What can we do to stem the violence? Ms. Okamoto has served as a volunteer with For the past three years, she has been executive director of Ceasefire Oregon. Her background is in science research. She holds a B.S. in Biology.

Is the United States Becoming a Plutocracy?
09/16/2012
Dr. Jeff Seward

Are all democracies in capitalist societies essentially plutocracies as Marxism suggests? Or is there a "normal" and even healthy degree of deference to capitalism in such democracies? Does this deference give way to an extremism of capitalist elites? Is the United States in danger of falling into that extreme situation? Jeff Seward, associate professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Pacific University, discusses these questions. Seward has taught comparative politics, political philosophy, and political economy since 1992. He had a previous career as a producer, reporter, and anchorman for public television stations in Boise and Seattle.

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