Inclusive Excellence to present campus conversations about critical issues

Campus Community Conversations, the campus-wide initiative from the Office of Inclusive Excellence that brings the UB community together for learning and conversation about some of the critical issues of the day, continues next month with two more installments.

UB faculty members Jorge Fabra-Zamora and Montgomery Hill will lead a discussion on “Indigeneity and Governance,” to take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. April 4 in the Colloquium Room, 107 Capen Hall, North Campus. Lunch will be provided.

In this session, Fabra-Zamora, associate professor in the School of Law, and Hill (Tuscarora, Beaver Clan, Rahnekawę̀:rih), assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies, will explore a range of issues related to how Indigenous populations have defined and negotiated self-governance in the context of colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalization. They will discuss how Indigenous communities assert their political autonomy and rights within existing nation-state structures, as well as re-centering Indigenous knowledge systems, legal traditions and approaches to leadership. 

Space is limited; registration closes March 28. 

Later in the month, the topic of conversation will be biologist Nathan H. Lents’ book, “The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships.”

Lents, professor of biology at CUNY’s John Jay College, will lead that discussion, which will take place from noon to 2 p.m. April 25 in the Landmark Room, 210 Student Union, North Campus. Lunch will be provided.

In “The Sexual Evolution,” Lents takes readers on a journey through the animal world — from insects to apes — revealing what the incredible array of sexual diversity can teach us about our own diverse beauty. Nature, it turns out, has made a lot of space for diverse genders and sexual behaviors. Why? Because diversity wins when it comes to evolution. Lents argues this is not just a political or social message: It’s a biological reality revealed through careful scientific study.

Space is limited; registration closes April 18.

Lents, who also serves as director of the cell and molecular biology major at John Jay, conducts research on the evolution of the human genome with particular focus on human-unique RNA genes and microRNA gene evolution in humans and Neanderthals.

He also is a popular science writer and speaker, and the author of “Not So Different” and “Human Errors,” in addition to “The Sexual Evolution.”

For more information, visit the Campus Community Conversation webpage.