Campus talks, exhibit focus on water as an essential global resource

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A lecture series featuring weekly talks on water issues in the Great Lakes region, with a special focus on Kalamazoo, will begin Wednesday, Jan. 13, and continue through April 13 at Western Michigan University.

The 13 multidisciplinary talks are free and open to the public and will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays in the Lee Honors College lounge on WMU's main campus. Attendees are welcome to bring a brown bag lunch. No talk will be offered March 9 during spring recess.

Titled "Our Blue Marble—Water, Home and Humanity," the programs constitute the spring component of the Lee Honors College's Lyceum Lecture Series. It is the first of two parts of a series, with lectures this fall providing a broader perspective by focusing on global issues related to water. 

A campus art exhibit on the topic will open during a reception with the artists from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, in the Lee Honors College lounge. Works by WMU associate professor Dr. Lynne Heasley and Michigan artists Sy Ellens, Ladislav Hanka and Glenn Wolff will be displayed throughout the college building through the end of the spring semester in April.

The spring talks will be presented by a diverse group of WMU faculty members as well as speakers from such organizations as the Michigan Environmental Council, Kalamazoo River Watershed Council and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Schedule

The dates, topics and presenters are:

• Jan. 13, "Pathways of Change: Natives, Newcomers, and the Waterways of Northeastern North America, " Dr. Jose Antonio Brandao, history.
• Jan. 20, "'More Powerful than the Governor: The Michigan Office of Drain Commissioner," Dr. Denise Keele, political science and environmental and sustainability studies, and Dr. Lynne Heasley, history and environmental and sustainability studies.
• Jan. 27, "A Transborder History of Controlling Water in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin," Dr. Dan Mcfarlane, environmental and sustainability studies.
• Feb. 3, "The State of the Water State: Michigan Waters with a Focus on the Future of Agriculture," James Clift, policy director, Michigan Environmental Council.
• Feb. 10, "Urban Dead Seas: Road Deicers, Fertilizers and the Dynamics of Urban Lakes," Dr. Carla Koretsky, geosciences and environmental and sustainability studies.
• Feb. 17, "Innovations in In-Situ Bioremediation of Organic Compounds," Dr. Michael Barcelona, chemistry.
• Feb. 24, "Water Resources Engineering and Management in Michigan," Ltc. Decker Hains, civil engineering.
• March 2, "Extraction of Toxic Inorganic Anion Contaminants from Aqueous Media by Nanojars," Dr. Gellert Mezei, chemistry.
• March 16, "Recent Developments in Watershed Hydrological Research and Future Directions," Dr. Chansheng He, geography.
• March 23, "Environmental Effects and Recovery from a Major Diluted Bitumen (Tar Sands) Oil Spill into the Kalamazoo River, Michigan," Dr. Stephen Hamilton, president, Kalamazoo River Watershed Council and professor of ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry at Michigan State University.
• March 30, "Reimagining the Freshwater Heart of North America," Alison Swan, environmental and sustainability studies.
• April 6, "Multimodal Trails on the Great Lakes," Dr. David Lemberg, geography.
• April 13, "Stormwater Management Has its Day: Examples from University Campus MS4 Permits," Christe Alwin, Municipal Separate Storm Water Sewer System program coordinator, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

For more information, visit wmich.edu/honors/events/lectures.

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