Students chat and eat with AU alumnus Samuel Perry

Samuel Perry, an AU alumnus, is an award-winning scholar, teacher and author. (photo by McKenzie Morgan)

By McKenzie Morgan | Staff writer

Augusta University students and faculty chat and eat pizza with AU alumnus, Samuel Perry in Summerville’s Allgood Hall on Thursday, March 24.

Perry is an award-winning scholar, teacher and author. He has also written several journal articles. Along with his Sociology minor, he received a Bachelor’s in Communications from Augusta University in 2003. He then went on to graduate first in his class from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2008, received a Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago in 2010, and a PH.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 2015.

His research focuses on religion, politics, race, and sexuality. Perry currently teaches at the University of Oklahoma in the Department of Sociology and is affiliated with the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of Women & Gender Studies. He is still publishing journal articles consistently along with several books.

The event had over 20 participants, many of whom were affiliated with AU’s Communication and Sociology Departments. Many of the participants were eager to learn and had several questions to ask the speaker.

For Alex Howard, a communications major, asking the speaker questions helped him learn new things about Christianity and American society.

“I personally learned that the Christian faith is very subject to human manipulation, just as any other faith or culture is,” said Howard. “I also saw that the growing secular population/values in American society is contributing to the changing of said society in terms of what is known and how individuals behave.”

Though many of the participants found out about the event through posters placed around the school and social media posts, Howard learned about the event through a member of Augusta University’s Department of Communication.

“I personally heard about this event when Pamela Hayward first notified my class group,” he said.

Howard said he thoroughly enjoyed the event and recommended that more speakers come next time.

“I enjoyed the meeting because it opened up much dialogue from students about a sensitive issue,” he said. “Bring more people other than Sam in order to get more than one view on the issue, even those that wholeheartedly disagree to allow for more discourse.

Greyson Duncan, a communications major, said he enjoyed the event and all of the information Dr. Perry provided.

“I thought it was very insightful,” said Duncan. “I feel like I learned a lot about politics and how scholars are predicting it will be in the future.”

According to Duncan, he found out about the event through one of his professors.

“I heard about this event from Professor [Rachel] Balducci in her COMM 2000 class,” he said.

The event had positive feedback from many participants and some stayed to speak with Perry after the talk.

“Other than eating delicious pizza, I also really enjoyed the opportunity to be there,” he said. “It was what I expected it to be and I had a lot of fun.”

Contact McKenzie Morgan at mcmorgan@augusta.edu.