Dixie State University’s weekly lecture series Dixie Forum: A Window on the World will host a DSU professor as she sheds light on how young children’s experiences impact brain development.

Dr. Cari Buckner, department chair of Dixie State’s Family Studies and Human Development Department, will present “Brain Development in Young Children” from noon to 12:50 p.m. on Sept. 19. The lecture will be held in the Dunford Auditorium, located in the Browning Resource Center on the DSU campus. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.

In her lecture, Buckner will discuss a variety of simple everyday activities that provide critical nourishment for children’s brains and how development occurs when adults actively interact with children. Additionally, she will explore research that has revealed how certain experiences and activities are more effective in aiding brain development than others.

In addition to serving as an associate professor of education and department chair at Dixie State, Buckner is the chair of the university’s Women’s Resource Center Committee. She has served on theNational Council of Teachers of English’s Early Childhood Issues Committee, Utah State Language Arts Core Revision Committee and the Editorial Review Board for the Utah Journal of Literacy.

Buckner has extensive experience working with young children in the public-school setting, where she provided opportunities for students to participate in active learning experiences and applied techniques to assist struggling readers and writers. She also has conducted research on how gifted students learn in classrooms with an array of ability levels.

Dixie Forum is a weekly lecture series designed to introduce the St. George community and DSU students, faculty and staff to diverse ideas and personalities while widening their worldviews via a 50-minute presentation. Next week, Dixie Forum will host DSU Instructor Reuben Wadsworth as he presents on Zion National Park at noon on Sept. 26 in the Dunford Auditorium.

For more information about Dixie State University’s Dixie Forum series, contact DSU Forum Coordinator John Burns at 435-879-4712 or burns@utahtech.edu or visit humanities.utahtech.edu/the-dixie-forum.