Passion and Practicality: A Liberal Arts Podcast
Passion and Practicality is a podcast series produced by Southern New Hampshire University‘s online Liberal Arts department, which includes academic programs and courses in Communication, Composition, Creative Writing, English, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, History, Literature, and Philosophy. In this podcast series, faculty, staff, and guests discuss the career paths open to graduates of those programs, the research and creative work of practitioners in the field, and other interesting stuff.
Passion and Practicality is a podcast series produced by Southern New Hampshire University‘s online Liberal Arts department, which includes academic programs and courses in Communication, Composition, Creative Writing, English, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, History, Literature, and Philosophy. In this podcast series, faculty, staff, and guests discuss the career paths open to graduates of those programs, the research and creative work of practitioners in the field, and other interesting stuff.
Episodes

Friday Jan 23, 2026
History Speaker Series with Roger Newman
Friday Jan 23, 2026
Friday Jan 23, 2026
In this History Speaker Series event, Roger Newman discusses his recent book, Boys. Dr. Newman is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, specializing in the care of women with multiple gestations. He has authored hundreds of papers, chapters, and books. At this event, Dr. Newman discusses his approach to historical fiction, how the book reflects real events in his family’s past, and the book publication process.

Friday Jan 09, 2026
Wireside Chat Featuring Special Guest Cindy Skaggs
Friday Jan 09, 2026
Friday Jan 09, 2026
Join us as Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA Instructor Cindy Skaggs! Cindy is the author of seven novels, two novellas, and, most recently, a guidebook for new novelists, "Dear Someday Writer." She holds an MA and an MFA in creative writing and has ten years of experience teaching writing and creative writing in higher education. She is an advocate for military and veteran issues, and in 2019-2020 spearheaded the Veteran Expressive Writing Workshop in conjunction with the Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Friday Dec 26, 2025
Wireside Chat, Featuring Special Guest Jerico Lenk
Friday Dec 26, 2025
Friday Dec 26, 2025
Join us as Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA Instructor Jerico Lenk! Jerico's fiction and poetry combine formal experimentation, queer identities and mythological reimaginings. His current work in progress is a novel adaptation of the Apollo and Hyacinth myth. He is the author of The Missing, a YA novel set in the Victorian-era and featuring queer ghost-hunters, and his novel In the Pines was shortlisted for the First Pages Prize in 2020.

Friday Dec 12, 2025
History Speaker Series with Aly Riley and She Spies
Friday Dec 12, 2025
Friday Dec 12, 2025
In this History Speaker Series event, historian Aly Riley discusses her recent book, She Spies: Women of the American Revolution, Their Heroic Missions, and Agent 355 Revealed, her experience with self-publication, and her future projects.

Friday Nov 28, 2025
Wireside Chat featuring Cynthea Liu
Friday Nov 28, 2025
Friday Nov 28, 2025
Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Cynthea Liu! Cynthea has published with Penguin Random House, Disney/Marvel, S&S, Sterling, and Scholastic in formats including picture books, transitional readers, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult novels. She has also written film adaptations and audiobook scripts for full-cast narration. As a consultant and editor, she takes on publishing projects requiring a story architect, project manager or managing editor for private clients and companies that represent independent authors, musicians, social media influencers and celebrities. In short, she does it all! Tune in to learn her success secrets!

Friday Nov 14, 2025
Wireside Chat featuring Holly Cornetto
Friday Nov 14, 2025
Friday Nov 14, 2025
Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Holley Cornetto! Holley is a writer, librarian, professor, book reviewer for Publisher's Weekly, and transplanted Southerner who now calls New Jersey home. She is the author of the novels They Are Cursed Like You (with S. O. Green, 2023) and We Haunt These Woods (2022). Join us as we talk about the horror genre, book reviewing for fun and profit, the joys and challenges of literary collaboration, and more!

Friday Oct 31, 2025
History Speaker Series with Beth van Duzer
Friday Oct 31, 2025
Friday Oct 31, 2025
In this History Speaker Series event, public historian Beth Van Duzer, a recent graduate of SNHU’s graduate program in History, discusses her career as a historian and her work with local government in preparation for the America250 celebration.

Friday Oct 24, 2025
Wireside Chat featuring Marianna Boncek
Friday Oct 24, 2025
Friday Oct 24, 2025
Wireside Chat welcomes MFA instructor Marianna Boncek! Marianna is an author, teacher, performance poet, playwright, researcher, and Egyptologist--yes, that means mummies! She has published poetry, nonfiction about ghost-hunting and missing persons, and works of fiction, both YA and adult. Join us as we talk about her writing journey and her love of mystery and the macabre! And mummies!

Friday Oct 17, 2025
The Past, Present, and Future of the Human Environment Panel 9: Poster Hall
Friday Oct 17, 2025
Friday Oct 17, 2025
Alycia Harris presents “Eco-Icons and Green Signals: Examining the Visual Language of Sustainability.” Alycia Harris and Helen G. Hammond present “Sustainable Minds: Teaching Conscious.” Lisa Jacovsky presents “Sustainable Futures: Green Innovation and Entrepreneurship as Agents of Environmental and Social Change.” Kathy Spencer, Linda Savage, and Kiley Church present “Reimagining Environmental Justice: Addressing Past Injustices, Present Conflicts, and Future Solutions through Policy, Property, and Cultural Perspectives.” Kayla Stoll presents “New Hampshire Environmental Education Bill.” Luvuyo Batyi presents “The Miracle of the Diverse Portulacaria Afra Bushel: An Evaluation of Local South African Flora on its Potential Ecological Impact Through Carbon Sequestration.”
Posters can be viewed here.

Friday Oct 17, 2025
Friday Oct 17, 2025
Patricia Weeks presents “Imperfectly Perfect.” Mac Scotty McGregor presents “Reclaiming the Earth: How Positive Masculinity Can Reshape Environmental Conservation.” Alena Shellenbean presents “Wild Home: The View from the Tent Flap throughout American History.” Georgena Luiso “Waste Not Want Not: How Cultural Perspectives Towards Plastic Implementation Hinder Large-Scale Plastic Waste Mitigation Techniques.”







