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Category: Academics

Echoes of Tomorrow: Indigenous Futures Reimagined

Wednesday, Nov. 20 | 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Warch 320 – Gallery

Echoes of Tomorrow: Indigenous Futures Reimagined, is an Ethnic Studies independent study which explores the topic of Indigenous Futurism as a concept of hope for reparations and decolonization. Showcasing works of Dr. Adrienne Keene (Cherokee), Matika Wilbur (Swinomish/Tulalip), Skawennati (Kahnawakeronon/First Nations Canada), Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke), Dr. Grace Dillon (Anishinaabe), and various other Native activists/artists.

Using media and talks from various contemporary artists, we ask questions such as: What is Indigenous futurism?  Is this purely just science fiction? What might this idea look like? Is Indigenous Futurism an “achievable” concept?  

This student-led talk will explore the combination of embracing cultural heritage, challenging systemic oppression, and promoting healing embodied through an interdisciplinary collection of multimedia art, poetry, articles, movies, videos, and more.

This exhibit is free and open to the public. All are welcome—please join us!

Important upcoming academic dates

Fall Term

Nov. 24-26Sunday-TuesdayFinal Exams
Nov. 27WednesdayResidence halls close (noon)

D-Term

Dec. 1SundayResidence halls open (9 a.m.)
Dec. 2MondayFirst day of D-Term classes
Last day to make class changes
or select S/U for D-Term
Dec. 11WednesdayLast day to withdraw from a D-Term class
Dec. 13FridayLast day of D-Term classes and final examinations
Dec. 14-15Sat.-Sun.Closing event if one is scheduled for the class
Dec. 15SundayResidence halls close (6 p.m.)

Start of Winter Term

Jan. 5SundayResidence halls open (9 a.m.)
Jan. 6MondayFirst day of winter term classes

McDougal Lecture in Mathematics

Wednesday, Nov. 13 | 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Steitz 102

Isabel Vogt from Brown University will be giving a lecture titled “Interpolation problems for curves.”

About Isabel Vogt

Isabel Vogt is an associate professor at Brown University. Her work is partially supported by NSF DMS-2200655 and by NSF CAREER Award DMS-2338345. She received her PhD in June 2019 from MIT, where she was a student of Bjorn Poonen and Joe Harris. During the 2019-2020 academic year, she was an NSF postdoc at Stanford University, working with Ravi Vakil. During the 2020-2021 academic year, she was an assistant professor at The University of Washington.

Her research is in the intersection of algebraic geometry and number theory, including the geometry of algebraic curves and rational and low degree points on varieties.

Dance Series: Oluwadamilare (Dare) Ayorinde

Wednesday, Nov. 6 | 7-9 p.m.
Memorial Chapel

Come experience and witness this improvisational performance practice of musicians and movers spontaneously composing together. Dare, alongside Lawrence collaborators, will gather and create, sharing some of their creative process in this community endeavor.

Lawrence collaborators include:

  • Mauriah Donegan Kraker (dance)
  • Margaret Sunghe Paek (dance)
  • Kate Stenson ’24 (voice/looping)
  • Mark Urness (bass)
  • Jean Carlo Ureña González (percussion)

This event is free and open to the public!

About the artist

Oluwadamilare (Dare) Ayorinde is Nigerian – Black ever evolving freelance creating artists from Teaneck, New Jersey. Since Rutgers University (Jersey Strong), he has worked with Colleen Thomas, Steffanie Batten Bland, The Trisha Brown Dance Company, Kyle Marshall, Miriam Gabriel + Carlo Antonio Villanueva, and more.

He has presented work for three years now. In 2019, he was Dance on the Lawn’s Emerging Choreographer and a Chez Bushwick Resident. Last year he was a New Jersey State Council On The Arts Fellow, named top 25 to watch in Dance Magazine 2020 and was nominated for “Outstanding Performer” by the Bessie Committee.

He is currently reading “The Famished Road” by Ben Okri as Nigerian Sci-Fi/historic fiction is one of his favorite genres. He relates strongly to the quote “performance is where we meet the cosmos” by Wole Soyinka.

He attunes more to the use of performance in everyday living. He is rediscovering the multiplicity of his art making as it relates to the responsibilities and realities of his human condition. He is finding deeper value in collaborative creation and collaborative coexistence.

He is using the pronoun he and acknowledges the spectrum, flow and unknown in his gender “expression.”

Two New Off-Campus Programs Added for Fall 2025

Two new study abroad opportunities have been approved for students interested in applying for Fall 2025 or later off-campus study.

Women’s and Gender Studies in Europe, run by Carleton Global Engagement, is accepting applications for its Fall Semester 2025 program, which will run from late August to mid-November. On this program, students will explore European feminist and LGBTQ topics, feminist and queer theory, and cross-cultural feminist methodology while taking such classes as Socio-Political Systems and Gender Issues Across Europe, The Ethics and Politics of Cross-Cultural Research, and Gender and Biopolitics of Health Across Europe. Students will also have the chance to research a topic of interest to them within the field of Women’s and Gender Studies. This program spans multiple countries, as students spend several weeks in each of several locations: Utrecht, Netherlands; Berlin, Germany, and Prague and Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Russian Language and Area Studies in Estonia, run by American Councils, offers students of Russian an intensive, immersion-based Russian language opportunity in Tallinn, Estonia. On this program, students will receive approximately 20 hours per week of in-class instruction in Russian grammar, phonetics, conversation, and cultural studies. Participants will also complete coursework in the history and culture of Estonia and may elect to enroll in Estonian language study. The program features homestays, weekly excursions, travel to other regions outside the host city, conversation partners, and a wide range of opportunities to volunteer, pursue hobbies and personal interests in a Russian-language context. This program offers semester-based options, as well as an academic year and summer program.

Lawrence applications to study off-campus are due January 29, 2025. For more information, go to Off-Campus Programs.

Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing: The Future of Sustainable Consumption

Monday, Oct. 28
Talk | 3:10-4:20 p.m. | Wriston Auditorium
Q&A | 7-8 p.m.| Fox Commons Business & Entrepreneurship Center

Sunil Chandran, CSO of Impossible Foods will be giving a talk titled “Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing: The Future of Sustainable Consumption,” followed by a Q&A in the Fox Commons B&E Center.

Consumers today have multiple options when it comes to their daily lifestyle choices. While cost, convenience, and quality are usually the primary drivers of consumer purchase, sustainability is usually an afterthought. However, recent advances in synthetic biology and biomanufacturing allow for the sustainable production of consumer goods without forcing the consumers to compromise on their own priorities. There are numerous instances of biomanufacturing being successfully deployed in various markets, including food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and energy, to name a few. In this seminar, we will cover biological solutions that have been successfully deployed to manufacturing consumer products, challenges that still prevent biotechnology from being adopted more widely, and the technical solutions that are being pursued to address these challenges.

Professor Megan Pickett to teach at the London Centre Fall 2025

Associate Professor of Physics, Megan Pickett, will be the Lawrence University guest faculty member at the London Centre in 2025-2026. Her classes, The Whirligig of Time and Nature’s Infinite Book will be offered in Fall Term 2025 to any interested students. There are no prerequisites for these classes, and The Whirligig of Time will satisfy the Natural Science lab GER.

To learn more about Professor Pickett’s classes, go to our London Centre Academics & Courses page. There you will find course descriptions as well as a brief interview with Professor Pickett about her upcoming term at the London Centre and what her courses will entail.

Applications for the 2025-2026 London Centre programs are now open and available on our Off-Campus Programs Application Portal. Applications will be due February 26, 2025.

For more information on study abroad or domestic study away, go to the Off-Campus Programs page.

Povolny Lecture Series: Taiwan and the Meanings of China

Thursday, October 31 | 7:30 p.m.
Steitz 102

Chong Ja Ian is associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore and a non-resident scholar with Carnegie China. His research covers Chinese foreign policy and security in Southeast and Northeast Asia.

This lecture is free and open to the public! A reception with light bites will precede the talk at 7 p.m. in the Steitz Atrium.

Taiwan’s status is an issue of significant contention for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and reserves the right to use force to exert control, despite never having ruled the island since its establishment in 1949. Recent years have seen the PRC increase coercive measures to prevent what Beijing fears is Taiwan’s growing separation.

In that context, relations across the Taiwan Strait have also become a point of concern and friction between the United States and the PRC. Yet, the idea of a sovereign Chinese state with unified, centralized political authority and clear borders that incorporate Taiwan is a relatively new one historically. Conceptions of China have a standardized, singular language and culture normalized around ethnicity and race, which likewise trace their origins from the late nineteenth century. This talk examines changing political conceptions of China, Chinese identity, frontiers, and China’s external ties through China’s multifaceted and evolving relationship with Taiwan since the sixteenth century.

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