New Discoveries Lecture Series: 'Place, Culture and Geoscience'

Join Arizona State University's School of Earth & Space Exploration for Steve Semken's upcoming New Discoveries lecture.

Description:

When we name, explore, study, or experience a locality, we make it a place. Places are the intersections of collective knowledge and culture for all the groups that inhabit them.  The new science of ethnogeology, the scientific study of human relationships with the Earth and their knowledge of the Earth, is directed toward revealing this knowledge.  Through ethnogeology, we seek to expand the scope of the geosciences and to make geoscience education more place-based, and therefore more locally relevant and more culturally inclusive. Professor Steven Semken, who has worked with Native American communities for nearly three decades, will present narratives of his group’s current ethnogeological research, the importance of place, and teaching in the southwestern US and Latin America. 

About the Speaker:

Steve Semken is a professor of geoscience education and geological sciences.  He is an ethnogeologist and geoscience education researcher who explores the ways that place, culture, and affect influence modes of inquiry, teaching, and learning in the Earth system sciences. He has studied and worked extensively in Native American and Hispanic/Latino communities across the Southwest United States, and was a faculty member at the tribal college of the Navajo Nation for 15 years before joining ASU. Semken works trans-disciplinarily with colleagues in anthropology, geography, science education, and sustainability.

FAQs

What are my parking options?

The Marston Exploration Theater is located on the first floor of ASU's Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV (ISTB 4), the home of the School of Earth and Space Exploration. ISTB 4 (map) is located near the intersection of Rural and Terrace Road in Tempe on the east side of campus. This seven-story structure is ASU’s largest research facility, and is accessible on foot via Orange Street and McAllister Ave. If arriving by Light Rail, exit at the University and Rural Road stop.

Parking is available inside the Rural Road parking structure just east of ISTB 4. From the parking structure, walk west and enter ISTB4 through the glass doors on the north side of the building. Please note that a parking fee is $3/hour and is charged upon exiting the parking structure. There is additional pay parking directly south of ISTB 4 available for $2/hour. There is an automated payment registration kiosk on the parking lot's west side (the corner near the building).

Do I need to arrive early?

Guests are recommended to show up by 6:30 p.m. to gain entry into the theater. At 7:15 p.m. any seats will be released to first come/first served at the door.

Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?

Contact the SESE Alumni & Events Coordinator, Stephanee Germaine at stephanee.germaine@asu.edu.