LEWISTON — Kirk Nugent, a poet and prominent motivational speaker, will facilitate a Bates College symposium exploring how students can make practical use in the workaday world of knowledge about human differences.

Titled "Beyond Intellectual Profit: Using Classroom Knowledge in the Workplace," the symposium takes place from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2, in Rooms 221-222 of New Commons, 136 Central Ave. The public is invited to attend at no cost.

The symposium comprises four discussions: a panel about how employers deal with difference in the workplace; a lunchtime session about connections between coursework and the workplace; a look at how theoretical concepts inform professional work; and a panel with Bates staff describing how they integrate discussions of difference into their jobs.

To register for any or all of the sessions, visit bit.ly/Bates-Beyond. For more information, call event organizer Theri Pickens, assistant professor of English, at 207-753-6963.

In addition to Nugent, symposium presenters include Bates alumni, Bates staff and representatives from local businesses and nonprofits.

Pickens was moved to produce the symposium by the realization that students, while often receptive and responsive in the classroom to discussions around such distinctions as race/ethnicity, gender and ability, don't always translate what they learn to behavior outside of class. And after college, behavior can make or break a career.

For example, "What do you do to make sure people are appreciated?" she says. "How do you ensure that there is pay commensurate with responsibilities? What do you do when there is a class divide?"