Jennings Bryant

Jennings Bryant, a 1967 Davidson College grad and now professor at the University of Alabama, will deliver the college’s annual McGaw Public Lecture on “Why Did I Just Watch That?’’ on Tuesday, April 13, 7 p.m., in the college’s Duke Family Performance Hall.

His talk is free and open to the public. It was rescheduled from Feb. 3. Details: www.davidson.edu

Combining research findings with theoretical concepts ranging from Aristotle and Freud to the latest in communication and cognitive and affective psychology, Dr. Bryant will explain the appeal of various types of media, both traditional and new. He then will indicate a few relatively unknown rationales for “guilty pleasures” in the entertainment arena.

A history major while at Davidson, Dr. Bryant earned his Master of Divinity in Communications and Counseling summa cum laude from the Louisville Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. in Mass Communication, again summa cum laude, from Indiana University.

A prolific and distinguished scholar, he was instrumental in the formative stages of the Children’s Television Workshop and Sesame Street, served as President of the International Communication Association, received the honor of Distinguished Scholar from the Broadcast Education Association, and was named this year’s recipient of the coveted Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award – the highest award granted by the University of Alabama. He is currently Reagan Distinguished Research Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences there, having served as the founding Director of the Institute for Communications Research.

While at Davidson, he also will hold a reservation-only workshop for Davidson faculty on “Liberating the Rewired Brain,” about how newer digital media has altered how this generation of college students thinks, and how teachers can adapt.