On Tuesday, Nov. 6, a small group of students gathered in Prentiss Great Hall for the second part of the Expanding Horizons Prentiss Lecture Series. Assistant Director of Residence Life and Housing Sean Gehrke presented “Talking About Your Generation: How You Fit into Generation Theory.”

The lecture outlined the generation theories of Neil Howe and William Strauss, the cycles of generations and the traits of generations. It also examined how these theories apply to the Millennial Generation, a generation that includes those born between the years of 1982 and 2007 and encompasses current Whitman students.

In his lecture, Gehrke highlighted the seven distinguishing traits that Howe and Strauss theorize that millennials exhibit. According to Howe and Strauss, millennials are special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented, achieving, pressured and conventional, and Gehrke explained how these traits differ from and distinguish our generation from others.

Gehrke’s lecture also explored how current college students differ from previous students, and how these differences affect college administrators.

The next lecture in the series, “Gensex: Queer’s Not Just for Homo’s Anymore,” will be given on Tuesday, Nov. 27.