By Hope Sandusky and Jade Cox
In celebration of TCC’s 50th anniversary, the NW library will host several different speakers in a series.
There are five different sessions, each speaking over certain events or products and how they have evolved in the past 50 years.
“Each session focuses primarily around the 1970s since that is when our campus was founded,” NW director of library services Kris Helge said.
Each of the session speakers are TCC faculty and staff members with the exception of Spencer Keralis, who is a faculty member from the University of North Texas.
The first session Sept. 30 features NW computer science instructor Steve Smiley, who will present how computers and technology have evolved since the 1970s, from the Programma 101 of the past to the Apple iPads of today. He has been trained in operating systems, programming, networking, security and other hardware.
“The very first computers had to use punch cards in order to be able to make calculations. But if anything was wrong, the computer would spit out 20 or more cards,” he said.
Smiley hopes that the series will help students gain insight into how much has changed.
“Life is pretty short,” he said. “Not many things we have now existed 50 years ago. A lot of things are new from a human point of view. We’ve only had this stuff for 50-60 years and still don’t know the full potential.”
The next two sessions look at the criminal justice system.
TCC police Detective Manny Reyes will speak Oct. 7 on a cold case that occurred during the ’70s.
NW history associate professor Brian Cervantez, NW criminal justice associate professor Jason Clark Miller and NW government associate professor Paul Benson will speak Oct. 14 on crime rate and prisons from the ’70s to now.
On Oct. 28, NW supplemental instruction coordinator Ryan Ferguson will speak on the evolution of film.
The last session Nov. 11 features Keralis, who will speak on diversity and allow for discussions on various topics.
“We hope the students will learn about the district’s history and gain a better understanding of each of the areas discussed,” Helge said. “We want to teach on how diversity enriches our district.”
For more information regarding the events, contact Helge at 817-515-7463.
