Annual Braswell Lecture Scheduled for March 22 at UMO
MOUNT OLIVE – The University of Mount Olive (UMO) will hold its annual Braswell Lecture on Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 PM in the Southern Bank Auditorium located in Raper Hall. The speaker for this lecture will be Jack Howarth. The event is free and open to the public.
Howarth will speak on “The Future of Education and Socialization for Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).” While working at IBM as a technician, Howarth built a digital version of a human on a computer screen to help his son, Brandon, who has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Brandon would sit in front of the screen for hours while it talked about facial expressions over and over, teaching him by sheer repetition. “I was just doing what I could to help Brandon be successful,” he said.
Howarth has worked with various technology companies including BIAS Corporation, StatSoft, Quantal Technologies, and SAS Institute, Inc.
Howarth has a BS degree in management programs from National-Lewis University in Wheaton, IL, a Digital Computer Technology diploma from Sylvania Technical School in Hempstead, NY, and he is a certified electrician. He currently works as an account manager for ROBOKIND Advance Social Robotics.
The annual Braswell Lecture was established in 1998 to honor Jessie Dail and Walker Vernon Braswell, who established a scholarship endowment memorializing Mrs. Braswell’s 34-year teaching career in Princeton, North Carolina. The Jessie Dail and Walter Vernon Braswell Endowment funds the Braswell Scholars at UMO.
For more information, contact Dr. Tommy Benson at tbenson@umo.edu.
The University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The University, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Research Triangle Park, Washington, Jacksonville, and in Smithfield at Johnston Community College. For more information, visit www.umo.edu.
