In addition to the heavy workloads they carry, many professors at Cornerstone further their learning in areas that interest them. Lunch and Learn is a program that allows them to share what they have discovered.

Erik Benson, associate professor of history, started the program in 2005, his second year at CU. Lunch and Learn is exactly what the title suggests—people attending the event bring their lunches, and a professor presents what they have been studying to other professors and sometimes students.

“Scholarship is part of being a good faculty member. If you’re going to teach, you have to know your stuff,” Benson said. Thus, he started Lunch and Learn because he “wanted to encourage scholarship amongst faculty.”

“I frankly stole the idea from my previous institution,” Benson said, explaining that the institution had what they called a scholarship lunch to achieve the same purpose.

He said he wanted the program to be a venue where faculty could share their new research with fellow faculty members.

However, choosing speakers is a very deliberate process.

Benson said he makes sure “not to go to the usual suspect” and picks faculty who are working on research of which others might not be aware. He also looks for a broad spectrum of faculty from every division presented.

Some examples of previous speakers are Douglas Mohrmann, associate professor of religion, who spoke on his intertestamental period work, and Brad Stamm, professor of business, who discussed how poverty is defined.

Another faculty member who has presented in the past is Cynthia Beach, associate professor of English, who taught last spring on “Tending Your Leisure Wellness.”

“Leisure wellness explores ways to include rest and play in our lives as adults,” Beach said.

Her teaching was based off of Martin Kimeldorf’s Serious Play, which explains leisure wellness as “a prescription for re-invigorating one’s leisure hours with passion and purpose.”

Through this information and Beach’s role as a creativity coach, she has seen “a direct link to choosing rest and play time—or downtime—to our creativity.”

She said she experienced positive feedback in her presentation when an audience member “sailed a paper airplane to the podium where I stood. Good evidence of play!”

Since Benson introduced Lunch and Learn to CU’s campus, the event has taken place about twice per semester for the last three and a half years. Benson said he has only two a semester because if he had too many they would become boring and attendance would drop.

Concerning the attendance for Lunch and Learn, Benson said it has varied over the years. The first year there were as few as five people, but last year there were 20 to 25 people fairly consistently.

However, when Stamm presented, he invited business majors, and Michael Stevens’ Writing In Culture class attended, putting the count around 50 people.

Stevens, associate professor of English, said his class was watching a documentary about poverty and listening to Stamm was a way to “broaden our view” on poverty.

“I like colleagues sharing research and ideas with each other,” Stevens said. “It’s a way to deepen and broaden conversation.” He said he also appreciates topics relating to what he is teaching in class, then he can take his class to the event.

While Benson did not originally start Lunch and Learn with students in mind, he still encourages them to attend. He said it is a great opportunity for students to understand what professors are researching.

“If it’s a subject you’re not interested in, don’t come. But if it’s something you are interested in, definitely come. You don’t have to do any research or reading … just drop on in,” Benson said.