Master the technique of storytelling in new EXCEL course
FOR RELEASE: Friday, July 26, 2002
Huntington, Ind. " Huntington College's Dr. Del Doughty, associate professor of English, will teach Storytelling, a summer Gateway course in the EXCEL Program for Adults. The course will allow participants to master the techniques and uses of storytelling for family, business, teaching and more. Stories are, of course, very powerful, said Doughty. I always encourage my students to learn how to handle a narrative because - in speaking as well as in writing - a captivating story can cover a multitude of other shortcomings. You may feel insecure about your speaking voice or your understanding of correct usage, but if you can tell a good story people will pay attention to you and probably feel better about themselves for being in your presence. I hope people will experience some of that in this class.
As a credit/non-credit course, Storytelling will run four weeks on Monday nights from 6-10 p.m., starting August 26 and finishing September 16. Participants will gain an understanding of the uses of storytelling and improve their techniques of storytelling for the family and also master its application to business situations. They will learn to re-tell a variety of traditional tales, such as jokes, folktales and historical incidents, and develop and tell the personal and family stories that get passed down from generation to generation.
Storytelling is a valuable management skill for leaders, said Kathleen O'Donnell, director of the EXCEL Program. It is part of the multi-billion dollar training market. Part of leadership training is to use storytelling or role-playing to drive home messages to employees.
It is a valuable skill with direct application to the workplace and for use by parents and grandparents within their own families, continued O'Donnell. People frequently engage in telling a story whether making a presentation, teaching, designing a marketing piece, or even defending a client.
Del Doughty earned his Ph.D. in comparative literature from Penn State University in 1995. He has presented his research at professional conferences and has published short fiction, poetry and essays in various literary journals and magazines. Doughty's fields of specialization include creative writing (especially haiku and haiku-related genres), hypertext poetics/information technology, deconstruction and literary theory, contemporary world literature, and comparative arts (painting, music, film, architecture and literature).
Doughty is a member of the Haiku Society of America and received an Honorable Mention at the World Haiku Festival Essay competition in 2001. He received an Indiana Arts Council Individual Artist's grant in 2001 and attended the National Endowment for the Humanities, Literature in Transition: The Impact of Information Technologies, during the summer of 2001. Doughty has sold some of his family stories to publications such as Christian Parenting Today magazine and the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. For a complete list of Doughty's achievements and publications, visit http://www.huntington.edu/english/faculty.htm.
Registration deadline for Storytelling is August 12. For more information on the EXCEL Program, visit www.huntington.edu/excel or contact by phone at (260) 359-4162 or by e-mail at excel@huntington.edu.
