Paleoecologist to Open Second Season of ‘Prairie Conversations’

The second season of "Prairie Conversations with Wes Jackson and Friends" will kick off Oct. 1 with Dr. Catherine Badgley, from the University of Michigan, as the friend. The conversation will take place from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Peters Science Hall 201 on the Kansas Wesleyan University campus.

Badgley has degrees in Geology, Forestry and Environmental Science, and Biology from Radcliffe College and Yale. She has been a research scientist in the Museum of Paleontology since 1985 and lecturer in the Residential College since 1987, and she is past president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an international scientific organization. Her paleontological research has taken her to Pakistan, China, Kenya and the western U.S. Her professional interests link paleoecology, biogeography of modern mammals and the current loss of biodiversity.

Her presentation will be followed by a question-and answer session moderated by Dr. Wes Jackson. A 1958 graduate of Kansas Wesleyan and professor emeritus of the university, Jackson is the co-founder and former president of The Land Institute in Salina. The Land Institute is a science-based research organization working to develop an alternative to traditional agricultural practices.

Sponsored by KWU's Community Resilience Hub, the program is free and open to the public.

Release by Jean Kozubowski