Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will host a Science Café on Pellagra on October 30 at the Barry L. Mellinger Student Center on the Perkinston Campus. The event will begin at 6 p.m. and will feature a discussion led by Dr. Deanne Stephens, Associate Dean of Arts and Letters History Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus. She will explore how the skin disease, Pellagra, is connected historically and culturally to the South.
Dr. Stephens will discuss Pellagra, a dehabilitating skin disease caused by low levels of niacin. Pellagra is marked by dementia, diarrhea, and dermatitis and is fatal if left untreated. Pellagra became an epidemic in the rural South during the nineteenth century.
Science Café on the Coast is a collaboration of The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Library, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Harrison County Library System, Long Beach Public Library and Hancock County Library System. It welcomes people who may or may not typically get involved with scientific discussions. Science cafés are not exclusive club meetings for scientists and science majors, nor do they take place exclusively in lecture halls or science museums. The cafés are not long lectures with a passive audience listening to an expert. Rather, they are dynamic, two-way interactions between a scientist and the public. In this way, the public feels empowered to learn, and the scientist speaker gains valuable perspective on his or her own work.
The event is open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided. For additional information about the MGCCC Science Café, 601.928.6259 or pklibrary@mgccc.edu.
For more information contact:
Shugana Williams
Perkinston Campus Librarian
601.928.6259
