Elizabethtown Community and Technical College invites its students and faculty, as well as members of the community, to a presentation on Cuba by Dr. Ric Morris on Tuesday, October 8, at 4:30 EST in 112 of the James S. Owen Building. Dr. Morris will offer a screening of his recently completed documentary film Milton Hershey’s Cuba (40 minutes) and a presentation about the summer program he directs in Cuba through the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS). The program is free and open to the public and presented as part of the college’s International Connections Series and is co-sponsored by the Divisions of Arts & Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences.
Morris, Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, has traveled widely in Latin America and visited Cuba eight times. He has been coordinating Cuba study abroad in-house at MTSU since 2003, and has built significant professional and personal contacts both at the University of Havana and around Cuba.
Morris’ documentary film Milton Hershey’s Cuba presents the story of how American chocolatier Milton S. Hershey went to Cuba to grow sugarcane in 1916. While he was there he built a massive empire on the tropical island, including a town for 2,000 employees and their families, 251 miles of electric railroad, and the largest sugar refinery ever built in Cuba. In its first year of operation, the Hershey refinery produced enough sugar to make 1.6 million chocolate bars. Milton S. Hershey was a philanthropist, and it was in Cuba that his belief in a kinder and gentler society was brought into sharpest focus. From the Roaring Twenties to the Great Depression and beyond, Hershey not only provided steady work to thousands of Cubans, he also offered them a better life. Archival film, still photographs, on-site footage, and never-before-seen interviews make this film an unforgettable journey to where “sweet was born.”
The 2014 KIIS Cuba program (June 27-July 20) will be based in Cienfuegos, a world heritage city of 150,000 inhabitants that boasts some of the most beautiful colonial Spanish architecture in the Caribbean. Its students will visit Havana, the capital, as well as the rustic city of Trinidad, the historic Bay of Pigs, the haunting Valley of the Sugarmills, and Santa Clara, which is often said to be the birthplace of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Its students will have the opportunity to choose courses in economics, Spanish language, and Spanish culture– including a unique course in service learning.
Established in 1975 at Murray State University, KIIS is a consortium of more than 20 colleges and universities that offers college classes in Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, and Latin America to students in member schools. Now hosted on the WKU campus, KIIS has been very successful, with 10,000 students now having participated in its programs. Last year 500 students took part in the high-quality, low-cost KIIS programs (2-5 weeks in length). Participants in the KIIS programs must register for at least one three-credit course for academic credit, with most choosing to take two courses.
The October 8 program is part of the college’s international-themed activities and provide will appeal especially to those interested in Spanish, history, political science, economics, and other subjects. Dr. Morris welcomes this opportunity to discuss his documentary, Cuba study abroad, and Cuba in today’s world.
For further information, contact Dr. Jim Murley, Coordinator of International Education, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (Jim.Murley@kctcs.edu 270-766-8541)
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College’s men’s basketball team, the Barons, started its 2013-14 season on Friday, November 1, with a game at Volunteer State Community College. The team is in its second year, coached by John Veague, from the University of Illinois-Chicago, with assistant coach Roman Ritchey, Georgetown College.