Join the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Applied Communication for its upcoming Leadership Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 22, led by Dr. Gerald Driskill, graduate program coordinator of the department.

The lecture will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Donaghey Student Center Room G. Members of the Little Rock community are invited to attend and are encouraged to bring a $20 donation. The cost for UA Little Rock faculty, staff, and students is $5 with their identification cards.

To kick off the evening, Driskill will begin with the discussion of his topic, “Leadership and Community Transformation: Co-Creating Counter Narratives.” His goal is to bring to life a perspective that counters the norm of individualism and non-cooperation in the American culture.

“Counter narratives in literature focus in on stories that correct missing, incomplete, inaccurate, or even damaged stories,” Driskill stated. “So, for example, one colleague of mine has been doing work in rural communities with the narratives about poverty. The narratives about how to get out of poverty are often missing, inaccurate. People have their stereotypes and prejudice against someone in poverty. Some of their work was about creating counter narratives and being able to empower those community members to share those stories and live those stories, to show there are pathways that we can navigate, and that it’s not impossible to identify positive stories of change within such communities.”

Driskill earned his master’s degree in human communication from Abilene Christian University and Ph.D. in communications studies from the University of Kansas. He is the co-author of “Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis Workbook,” and has published articles in the Journal of Applied Communication, Communication Studies, Communication Teacher, and the Journal of Communication and Religion.

For more information, check out Driskill’s interview about the lecture, or to register for the event, click here.