The Cal State Long Beach community will be able to have a laugh and learn about the uses of humor this weekend at the International Society for Humor Studies (ISHS) conference.
The conference evolved when linguists became interested in humor and thought it should be cross-pollinated into other disciplines.
Amy Bippus, an associate communications professor and organizer of the event, said humor is often times dismissed with less weight but she believes humor is an important part of relationships.
This is an interdisciplinary academic conference and will feature a variety of people from all disciplines.
Events include “Teaching with Humor” with Mary Kay Morrison, author of “Using Humor to Maximize Learning” from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. June 17 and a mixer at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden.
The next day, there will be a comedy contest at 7 p.m. in The Nugget, which will be open to participants. The following day there will be brunch at 8:30 a.m. with guest speaker Joel Stein, a writer for Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times, as well as a tour of the Getty for conference participants later in the day.
Participating faculty include communication studies professors Jessica Abrams, Jose Rodriguez and Nancy Briggs.
Jose Rodriguez will be presenting a paper that looks at how friends use humor to diffuse possible acts of violence, such as domestic abuse or sexual assault.
“We are very lucky to have this international conference here at CSULB. Dr. Bippus is a wonderful host. She makes our department look good. I think that people should expect to experience humor from a variety of perspectives,” Rodriguez said.
About 28 students in Moss’ conference management class have the opportunity to gain course experience as volunteers at the conference.
With more than 150 registered participants, the majority will be staying at the International House dorms.
The ISHS looks for diverse places to hold their annual conference.
Last year the conference was in Spain. The conference is usually held in North America every other year. Before Spain, the conference was held in Rhode Island.
Bippus said that given the diversity of California, bringing the conference to the West Coast would be a good experience. Bippus placed a bid two years ago to host the conference in California. She received approval for the conference six months later and has been organizing the event for almost two years.
For more information, visit www.ishs2009.com
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