Category: Events

Gage Gallery Event: Stories of the Haymarket Martyrs

RU’s Department of History and Philosophy and the Gage Gallery, in partnership with the Illinois Labor History Society, are hosting a reception and lecture with Mark Rogovin, editor of The Day Will Come: Honoring Our Working Class Heroes, Stories of the Haymarket Martyrs.

Time/place: Friday, April 29 at 5:30 p.m. in the Gage Gallery, 18 S. Michigan Avenue.

Guest speakers are international trade unionists. The music will be by the Chicago Federation of Musicians. Drinks are donated by Haymarket Brewery.

Address replies to: Erik S. Gellman, Assistant Professor of History (egellman@roosevelt.edu)

Green Fire in Schaumburg (post-Earth Day Reflections)

Normally Friday nights are pretty quiet at RU’s Schaumburg Campus. But not this past Friday night. Despite pounding rain and a brief hailstorm, around 60 people converged on Alumni Hall for the special Earth Day screening of the new Aldo Leopold documentary film, Green Fire. In attendance were several Roosevelt faculty, staff, and students; but the bulk of the crowd came from the larger community. Folks like Steve and Jill Flexman, veteran restoration volunteers from the Poplar Creek Prairie Stewards; Jean and Jim DeHorn of the Chicago chapter of Wild Ones; and a prospective student from Joliet Junior College who drove all the way from Joliet (just like me) to see the film and meet some current RU Sustainability Studies students.

This small sampling of the eclectic audience at last night’s screening gives a hint of what proved to be a dynamic gathering of academics, environmental stewards, and social activists who live and work in the northwest suburban region . . . and beyond. After the film we engaged in a spirited discussion of Leopold and his classic 1949 book A Sand County Almanac, local environmentalism, the need for a more ethical relation to the land (and each other), and the value of ecological stewardship. Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future, a website created as a collaborative research project by the students in my SUST 210 Sustainable Future class this spring at the Schaumburg Campus, aims to provide a platform for keeping that exciting conversation going.

Special thanks go to Gavin Van Horn, Director of Midwest Cultures of Conservation for the Center for Humans and Nature in Chicago (one of Green Fire‘s co-producers), who helped me introduce the film and moderate discussion afterward; Jessie Crow Mermel, a Sustainability Studies major and educator at Angelic Organics farm in Caldonia IL, who planted the idea of getting Green Fire to screen at Roosevelt and provided a student’s perspective on the important of Leopold’s Land Ethic in her introductory remarks; Schaumburg Campus Provost Doug Knerr, who provided planning support and encouragement for this event from the get-go; RU professional staff Yvette Joseph, Jackie Talerico, Tim Hopkins, Jon Resele, and Sharon Del Prete for their incredible support and hard work in the planning and logistics for last night’s screening; and the students of my SUST 210 class — particularly Mary Beth Radeck, who provided superb content for and great student leadership on this project.

Dramatic View of Today’s Burn at RU

Here’s a photo of this morning’s prescribed burn of the wetland detention pond at RU’s Schaumburg Campus. A historic day — the first such use of controlled burning as a ecological management tool at Roosevelt; but certainly not the last, given the plans underway for revamping the physical landscape of the university.

Image credit: Kenton Franklin, Sustainability Studies major at RU. Click here for a full slideshow of photos from the burn event.

Green Fire Film to Screen at RU on Earth Day

On Earth Day — that’s Friday, April 22nd — Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg Campus is proud to host a free public screening of Green Fire, the new full-length feature documentary of Aldo Leopold, a remarkable conservationist, scientist, and writer who helped shape the modern environmental movement in the US and beyond. As the Green Fire website notes, Leopold’s ideas and writings (most notably the 1949 classic, A Sand County Almanac) “remain relevant today, inspiring projects all over the country that connect people and land.” This film is an extraordinary co-production by the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Center for Humans and Nature; its world premier was on Feb. 5th in Albuquerque, NM. RU’s screening will be the one of the first in the NW suburban Chicago region.

We are very pleased to have Gavin Van Horn, Director of Midwest Cultures of Conservation at the Center for Humans and Nature, join us on April 22nd for the Green Fire screening and a post-film discussion. Popcorn and refreshments will be provided — this will be a fun movie night as well as a chance to connect with the environmental community at RU and in the Schaumburg region.

When:  Friday, April 22nd (Earth Day) — 7:00pm
Where:  Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg Campus (1400 N. Roosevelt Blvd), Alumni Hall
Cost:  Free!
RSVP / Questions:  Contact Prof. Mike Bryson at mbryson@roosevelt.edu / 847.619.8735

This public event is co-sponsored by the RU’s Sustainability Studies program as well as the Schaumburg Campus Provost’s Office.

NU Summit on Sustainability April 1-2

I received word of this upcoming sustainability conference via email. The theme of the gathering is “Environmental Equity in the 21st Century,” and many of the events are free. Majora Carter is a major force these days in urban sustainability and social justice, having started her activist work in the Bronx.

The first annual Northwestern University Summit on Sustainability will be held April 1 & 2 on the Evanston campus. A keynote speech by Majora Carter, a MacArthur “Genius Award” Fellow, will take place on Friday, April 1st from 7 to 9 PM.  The event will continue on April 2nd, with sessions on Policymaking for Environmental Justice; Sustainable Urban Planning; Food as a Lens for Understanding Inequities; Stories of Local Transformation; and Sustainability in Corporations.

Other speakers include:
– Michael Dorsey, assistant professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth
– Mari Gallagher, principal of Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group
– Nia Robinson, the former Director of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change (EJCC) Initiative

This event is open to the public.  Find details at http://www.nusos.org/

New Deal Service Days at RU

Every spring, Roosevelt students, faculty, and staff get together in groups and fan out over the city and NW suburbs to engage in a variety of service activities. I’ve done this several times over years, sometimes with my small kids in tow — and it’s always a fun and rewarding experience. Here’s a letter to faculty and students from NDSD organizers Yvette Garcia and Tara Hawkins:

New Deal Service Days, Roosevelt’s largest community service event of the year, is now entering its ninth season. Mark your calendar for this year’s event, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, April 8-9 in the Northwest suburbs and Saturday, April 9 in Chicago.

This event offers unique opportunities for you to further social justice and the mission of the University. We encourage you to mention the event and the opportunities for volunteering during your classroom discussions with students and faculty.

This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to work together in honor of the University’s mission by helping the needy in our communities. Years from now, it is unlikely that you will remember your Fridays and Saturdays filled with chores and other personal demands. However, you will remember New Deal Service Days and the positive difference being made in the lives of those who need  our help the most.

For details on how to register, the schedule of volunteering opportunities, FAQs, etc., check out the NDSD website.

Free Old-Time Music Concert at RU, Feb. 11

This coming friday, my friend and RU colleague Greg Reish is giving his annual recital in Roosevelt’s historic chamber music concert space, Ganz Hall, at 8pm. This is a free concert, and not one to be missed! Greg is an accomplished guitarist and banjo player, as well as a music historian / musicologist who is a recognized authority on American folk, country, and blues music. Check out his website, and better yet, see him in person if you’re free on Friday night!

RU Lecture by Activist Eli Clare on Feb. 8

Join the Roosevelt University community for a discussion with writer, speaker, and activist Eli Clare, author of Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation. In his presentation “Stolen Bodies, Stolen Lands,” Clare will offer a fresh take on how environmental justice issues are connected to ableism, heterosexism, racism, and classism.

When/Where:
Tuesday, February 8th, 4:30 – 6:00pm
Congress Lounge (2nd floor), Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago

For more information please e-mail Prof. Ellen O’Brien at eobrien@roosevelt.edu

This event is co-sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, the Social Justice Studies Program, the Department of Economics, Feminist United, RU Proud, the Delta Gamma Pi Multicultural Sorority, and the Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation.

Midwest Real Food Summit 2011

Here’s another great opportunity to learn about sustainable food issues and systems, with a special focus on urban food production and consumption. This one’s to be held at Northwestern University in Evanston.

Midwest Real Food Summit 2011: Urban Food Systems in Development
Northwestern University, Evanston IL, Feb. 18 – 20.

Food is culture, food is community. It is what unites us, sharing a meal together. However, the system that produces and distributes and controls food in this country is flawed. The Midwest is the epicenter of our commodity food system and as students learning in midwest institutions we have the responsibility and the power to educate ourselves and those around us about the issues in the modern U.S. food system. That’s where this summit comes in!

For details and registration (students can attend for $25), see the Food Summit’s website.

Register Now for the Wild Things 2011 Environmental Conference

The Wild Things conference is a fun and educational all-day event sponsored biannually by the Chicago Wilderness organization and other partners, and covers a vast array of topics related to urban ecology, conservation, gardening, wildlife, science, politics, and environmental activism. Some of the presentations and workshops have more of a scientific bent; others are directed toward environmental policy; but many have a humanities component to them (such as how we represent and conceptualize the natural environment, apply concepts of “wilderness” to urban landscapes, think about environmental ethics, etc.).

Advance registration is required (the deadline is Jan. 30th for early online registration, which features a cheaper rate). Students can attend inexpensively for $15 — cheap for an event of this topic and quality. The conference will be a great potential source of ideas about urban ecology and other matters related to sustainability, wilderness, etc., and is also a cool networking opportunity. Professors Mike Bryson and Carl Zimring will be in attendance as well as co-presenting a talk at 4pm (session D6) on RU’s new Sustainability Studies program. In particular, we highly recommend the keynote address at 9am by Curt Meine, a terrific presenter who will discuss the life and legacy of Aldo Leopold, one of the most important American environmental writers (as well as an ecologist) of the 20th century. That talk will include a preview of a new film about Leopold, who exemplified the integration of science and the humanities in his engagement of the natural world.