HILLSBORO, Kan.— Dr. Cynthia Toms, professor of global studies and kinesiology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., has been selected to present the sixth annual Exaudio Lectures at Tabor College.
Her theme, “Health for Human Flourishing,” will be highlighted in two lectures on Monday, Sept. 12. The first presentation, “Faith and the Global Food System: Eating as an Act of Worship,” will take place during Tabor’s morning Chapel at 10 a.m. The final lecture, “Health for the Nations,” will be held at 7 p.m. During the day she will interact with students and others on the Tabor campus.
Both lectures will take place in the Richert Auditorium of the Shari Flaming Center for the Arts, and the public is encouraged to attend.
“We are very pleased to have Dr. Cynthia Toms as our speaker for the Exaudio lectures this fall,” said Dr. Douglas Miller, Professor Emeritus of Biblical and Religious Studies. “Her scholarship, international experience, and commitment to employing her gifts and resources on behalf of those in hardship will be inspirational as well as challenging to those who attend the events.”
Toms is the founding director of Westmont’s Global Studies Minor and Fellows Program as well as Westmont’s Global Health Semester in Uganda. She has held posts at the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, Uganda Studies Program in Mukono, Uganda, and Peking University in Beijing, China. Since coming to Santa Barbara in 2013, Dr. Toms has partnered with the Food Bank of Santa Barbara to research food security, along with her students, on the west side of Santa Barbara.
She was the principal investigator for a project addressing food security among at-risk Santa Barbara County college students from 2016–2020. Recent grants have included the USDA, American Immigration Council/CCCU, and Santa Barbara Foundation. She is a 2022–2023 Sabbatical Research Fellow with the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine. Cynthia serves on the Board of Child Family Health International, Santa Barbara ACT, the Community-Based Global Learning Collaborative, and Uganda Christian University Partners.
The Tabor Exaudio Lectureship in Vocation and Service is an annual academic lectureship in which a scholar is invited to present a meaningful expression of Christian discipleship that arises from their professional discipline. The purpose of the lectureship is to challenge and encourage believers in their individual and collective calling of work and service for Christ and his kingdom. The term exaudio is a Latin word that means to listen, comprehend, and respond faithfully.
The five previous speakers include Dr. David Janzen (2021), Beth A. Silvers, J.D. (2020), and Dr. Lee C. Camp (2019), Dr. R. Mark Shipp (2018), and Dr. Scot McKnight (2017).
Learn more about the lectures by visiting www.tabor.edu/exaudio.