Dr. Laurel Braitman to Deliver Grace A. Tanner Lecture in Human Values
Published: September 29, 2023 | Author: Nathaniel Taggart | Read Time: 2 minutes
The Grace A. Tanner Center for Human Values is thrilled to announce that Dr. Laurel Braitman is visiting Southern Utah University to deliver the Grace A. Tanner Lecture on Human Values. The Lecture will take place on Thursday, October 5, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. in SUU's Great Hall in the Hunter Alumni Center. Braitman's lecture is titled "What Looks Like Bravery: Loss, Resilience and the Survival Toolkit".
"We are honored to bring Dr. Braitman to SUU," said Danielle Dubrasky, director of the Tanner Center. "Her work explores how the telling of our own stories relieves stress, averts burnout, strengthens resilience, and empowers us to build connections."
Braitman's new memoir What Looks Like Bravery is a powerful look at how unexamined grief can persist over decades. Through the lens of her own life, and a childhood spent worrying about her father with cancer, Dr. Braitman sensitively and honestly explores how confronting our grief can help us live the life we really want, and how the pain of loss can transform us into the people we want to become.
Her previous book, the New York Times-bestseller Animal Madness, investigates mental illness in the animal kingdom—from anxious dogs to depressed bears. Susan Orlean, bestselling author of The Orchid Thief, calls it "a marvelous, smart, eloquent book—as much about human emotion as it is about animals and their inner lives."
Braitman holds a PhD in Science, Technology and Society from MIT, and is a Senior TED Fellow. She’s the founder of Writing Medicine, a global community of writing healthcare professionals. Her work has been featured on the BBC, NPR, Good Morning America and Al Jazeera. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, on Radiolab, in the Wall Street Journal, WIRED and elsewhere. She’s worked in Alaska studying grizzly bears, made coffee for the Hell’s Angels, taught backpacking and volunteered with grieving kids.
Braitman's lecture at SUU promises to be an educational and enlightening event. "We invite all members of SUU and the Cedar City community to attend this event," said Dubrasky.
The Tanner Center seeks to promote access to scholarly and scientific learning in all areas of human values which embrace moral, artistic, intellectual and spiritual concepts. For more information please refer to the Tanner Center website.
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