The speaker series here at Fitchburg State is something that allows professors to speak about ongoing topics in the world and stuff that they find interesting. It is organized by Professor Eric Budd who is an Economics, History, and Political Science teacher in the School of Arts and Sciences department here at Fitchburg. He has made it so faculty have a space to present research or ideas for research that can be viewed by students and faculty to understand what is going on with professors’ research.

In this week’s presentation, Professor Thomas Schilling of ​​Psychological Science took the chance to talk about the opioid crisis and what effects it has on Fitchburg and the surrounding areas. While doing research for his presentation Professor Schilling and his colleague Professor Elizabeth Walsh of Criminal Justice got together to look into the crisis going on. They looked at data through the areas of Worcester County and were “Floored” when they saw how truly serious the problem was. Though data gathered by Professor William Hansen of the Department of Earth, Geography, and Physics at Worcester State University, that not only the opioid crisis in the big cities it is also a big issue in the surrounding areas of Fitchburg State.

In the presentation, Professor Schilling stated “Going a quarter mile outside of campus you can see the true effect that the opioid crisis has on the community.”

One of the main points that Professor Schilling wanted to get across was the idea of the opioid crisis not getting better but in fact, getting worse. The idea that it is going away is completely incorrect and is happening and getting worse in our backyard here in Fitchburg. The number of people that are using drugs, the amount that is circulating, the number of overdoses, and even deaths are at their highest point ever and only trend to go worse over the next decade.

After the presentation ended the audience that attended the Zoom was allowed to ask questions that the professor could answer. The idea behind this is to allow the people who attended to further their learning and finalize any other issues that they may have. The other advantage these Speaker Series give to us here at Fitchburg State is the idea that the material used in these presentations can be used as information in classrooms and material teachers use to make their classes more based on the area. It allows us to understand the severity of topics discussed and why they could affect us as individuals.

The next Speaker Series event is scheduled for December 4th at 12:30-1:45 pm. It will be presented by Professor Sam Tobin of Game Design and will be about “Tabled: A Materialist Examination of the `Table’ in Tabletop Wargames”.