Written by Tyler Reese
Riverside City College held its 56th Distinguished Faculty Lecture “Are You Sure?” with guest speaker Jan Muto May 10 in the Digital Library and Learning Resource center’s Auditorium.
Muto is an associate professor of communications at Norco College and served as RCC president from 2009-2010.
“What’s fun about communications is that the people who are usually pretty good at it don’t really need any training,” Muto said. “They’re the ones who are most interested and go to these kind of events and I think the turnout was great.”
Muto opened the lecture by explaining basic communications and how it affects everyone. To keep the lecture entertaining Muto explained meanings while using satire and various forms of humor including meme’s and misunderstood screenshots of text messages.
“Humor is always apart of my classes and it’s apart of my life,” said Muto. “I think life’s too short not to laugh, but I think humor can help break down some barriers and allow us to laugh at ourselves and learn from it.”
After Muto finished discussing basic communications, she went on to elaborate how in today’s world technology dominates our lives and affects the way we communicate whether it be calling, texting or posting on social media.
“We are glued to the hip with our phones,” Muto proclaimed.
Muto ended her lecture 15 minutes early in order to address her audience with the intent of stirring the minds of those who may have questions and to create a mutual understanding between herself and the audience.
RCC President Wolde-Ab Isaac and associate professor of political science Mark Sellick presented Muto with a plaque featuring the art printed on her program and humbly thanked her for her time and dedication for excellence.
More to come.
