As always, some are happy with the outcome of this presidential election, some are not and many are standing pat. Any way you look at it, however, 2009 was one for the history books. Candidates avoided the race card during the campaign, but the question remains: Where do we go from here regarding relations between whites and black--and the rest of the racial rainbow--with the election of a black president? Are we there yet? Quentin Kinnison has some thoughts on the opportunities and challenges we Americans face at this moment, and he outlines them this week in Scholars Speak.

Abraham Lincoln is generally considered our greatest President. He is also a favorite of our newest President. What has Honest Abe to say to us on the eve of his 200th birthday? Quite a lot, Fresno Pacific University faculty member Allen Carden writes in this week's Scholars Speak.

Conspiracy--a scary word, conjuring images from alien abductions to presidential assassinations to terrorist plots. But what does it take to actually be part of a conspiracy, legally speaking? Not much, Duane Ruth-Heffelbower, attorney and professor at Fresno Pacific University, notes in this week's Scholars Speak. So little, in fact, that ordinary citizens should be aware just how easily they can become conspirators.

There's nothing like the voice of experience to remind us when we watch or read about famine, war and cruelty that we're talking about people, not percentage points. In this week's Scholars Speak Doug Kulungu, a student majoring in business at Fresno Pacific University, lays out what is happening in his homeland of Congo. Despite the pain, he does this in a spirit of hope that, as bad as life there is and has been, that awareness, work and faith can make it better.

Ken Martens Friesen, history and political science professor at Fresno Pacific University, is very brave or a little crazy (maybe both?): he wants to increase taxes on gasoline. In this week's Scholars Speak he lays out exactly why the U.S. should do this during an economic recession whose only good news so far has been falling gas prices.

Big public high schools bad. Small private high schools good. Right? Surely small schools, with their focus on individual attention and lack of big school problems--drugs, gangs, kids trying to learn the English language--will produce better students through the prism of the moment: higher test scores. Not necessarily, according to Fran Martens Friesen, English faculty at Fresno Pacific University. In this week's Scholars Speak she gives big public schools the credit she says is overdue.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? Some advocates for a cause, a discipline or a viewpoint are so zealous they do more harm, twisting their stated viewpoint into absurdity. The more powerful the ideas they deal with, the more damage they do their own cause. Science is such a powerful endeavor and Ron Pratt, mathematics professor at Fresno Pacific University, looks at some of its offensive defenders this week in Scholars Speak.

Kids--what's the matter with these kids today? Yesterday they were children, always ready to be played with, read to and tucked in. Then they were preteens, and happy to have us at their concerts, little league games and science fairs. Now they're teenagers and seem to have moved to another world: Planet No Adults Welcome. Wha' Hoppen? David M. Weber, faculty in the Fresno Pacific University School of Education, has the answer, as well as a plan for keeping or getting back good communication between you and the child in your life. Give it a look this week in Scholars Speak.

Love and power--can these two major human drives go together, in this political season, or at any other time? Duane Ruth-Heffelbower, Fresno Pacific University business faculty and member of the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies, says yes and explains how in this week's Scholars Speak.

The Reading Wars, who wins? All phonics vs. No phonics. While adherent advocates fight it out in schools and legislatures around the country, what do kids learn? Rene Mendel Lebsock, a reading specialist on the faculty at Fresno Pacific University, says its time to blur the battle lines and teach meaning as well as making sounds. Learn about her peace plan this week in Scholars Speak.

Judeo-Christian values have been expressed as written laws for thousands of years. The empires of Rome and Great Britain, as well as the United States of America have seen themselves as carrying forward these laws as a moral and legal code, affecting life in the public square as well as inside the church. But is a code of behavior all, or even most, of what higher law is? Not to Quentin Kinnision, professor of contemporary Christian ministries at Fresno Pacific University, who makes his point in this week's Scholars Speak.

Grades--parents and schools offer cash, prizes and threats to encourage or scare students into achievement. Children are trained early that As guarantee a successful life. School systems are judged successes or failures based on test scores. But are good grades really the holy grail of education? In this week's Scholars Speak Scott Key, education professor at Fresno Pacific University, points out that some famous names never appeared on an honor roll, and that the emphasis we put on grades determines the kind of citizens we get.

"Emergent" congregations. "Missional" churches. Worship practices that go well beyond praise songs and electric keyboards. New ways to reach the unchurched, or heretical universalism? Tim Neufeld, director of the contemporary Christian ministries program at Fresno Pacific University, makes the case for inclusion in this week's Scholars Speak.

Career and family is a juggling act both women and men struggle with these days. One solution is for someone to gear down on the career track and work part time. Sounds good, but is there a sphere of part-time employment beyond the phrase: "What can I get started for you today?" Nicole Linder, director of annual giving and donor relations at Fresno Pacific University, is happy to report there is. She tells how employees and employers who are willing to give a little can get a lot through job sharing in this week's Scholars Speak.

Like the truth, the news is out there, but fewer are finding it through traditional media. This worries newspaper, TV and radio journalists and executives and has already resulted in layoffs among Valley news organizations. Beyond the bottom line lie the whole definition of news and the place of journalists in a web-connected world. When people can connect directly with experts, without need of printing presses, cameras and microphones, do they still need professional go-betweens? James Collier, community relations director at Fresno Pacific University, has grown up with new media and offers suggestions for traditional news outlets in the July Scholars Speak. A self-described Millennial and digital native, he is a former web editor who has done graduate research in online communities.

Decisions, decisions. It's a big world out there, with lots of decisions to make. It's a busy world, too, so we better make those decisions quickly, right? Not always, says Rod Reed, campus pastor and dean of spiritual formation at Fresno Pacific University. In the June edition of Scholars Speak, Reed makes the case that unhurried decisions can be the best decisions.

Scholars Speak again goes monthly for the summer. For May, Wayne Steffen wonders what ought to be the mix of education and entertainment at the public library. Does Scary Movie 4 stand with Schindler's List? Foxy Brown with The Philadelphia Story? More important, who decides and how can we all participate?

Scholars Speak again goes monthly for the summer. For May, Wayne Steffen wonders what ought to be the mix of education and entertainment at the public library. Does Scary Movie 4 stand with Schindler's List? Foxy Brown with The Philadelphia Story? More important, who decides and how can we all participate?

The federal government is giving away money! What should we do with it? President Bush and other leaders want us to spend the windfall on domestic goods and services. Call it an economic stimulus package or a tax rebate--it is a tried and true method of jumpstarting the economy. Supporters hope this short-term boost will have long-term benefits. A few others call saving the money, or at least paying down debts, more responsible. Tim Neufeld, biblical and religious studies professor at Fresno Pacific University, offers a third suggestion so far unheard in the public discussion. Find out what this is in this week's Scholars Speak.

The federal government is giving away money! What should we do with it? President Bush and other leaders want us to spend the windfall on domestic goods and services. Call it an economic stimulus package or a tax rebate--it is a tried and true method of jumpstarting the economy. Supporters hope this short-term boost will have long-term benefits. A few others call saving the money, or at least paying down debts, more responsible. Tim Neufeld, biblical and religious studies professor at Fresno Pacific University, offers a third suggestion so far unheard in the public discussion. Find out what this is in this week's Scholars Speak.