Parking Permit - Fall 2024

Learn about the Coastal Prairie, the importance of this vanishing ecosystem, and the prairie restoration taking place on the University of Houston Clear Lake campus.

Friday October 18 - 9:30am

Rowena McDermid, Environmental Education Assistant, EIH

Activists and scholars use the term food justice to challenge multiple inequalities in the production, distribution, and consumption of food. Join us to learn how people in Houston and other communities are mobilizing to create healthy communities, environmental sustainability, and economic opportunity.

Friday October 18 - 11am

Christine Kovic & Dawit Woldu, Professors of Anthropology & Cross Cultural Studies, HSH

In September 2022, the Houston Museum of Natural Science a renovated John P. McGovern Hall of the Americas opened to the public. It is a living exhibit, emphasizing the presence of Indigenous people in what is now known as the Americas past and present. This is what the title of the presentation refers to. What does it take to re-focus and update an existing exhibit? How does one choose exhibit storylines? Who decides what to display and what not? Long-term Indigenous participation and input is extremely important. How did the museum go about achieving this goal? These and other topics will give all attendees a peek behind the scenes, and hopefully entice you to come visit this permanent exhibit.

Friday October 25 - 9:30am

Dirk Van Tuerenhout, Curator of Anthropology, HMNS

Have you ever wondered how pop up books and cards are created? This presentation will introduce you to the art of pop up books and cards. Information will be shared about some well known paper engineers and their work. You will have the opportunity to create a pop up card to keep or mail to someone special.

Friday October 25 - 11am

Janet Reynolds

This lecture explores the travelers, traders, and explorers of the Middle Ages. Through discussion of the Norse explorations of the Northern Atlantic, European knights on the Crusades, and merchants on the Silk Road, we'll investigate their motivations, routes, and experiences. We'll examine medieval attitudes towards the unfamiliar, portrayals of the 'marvellous' in travel writing, and consider the legacies of these explorers in connecting cultures across Europe, Africa, and Asia during this unique era of world history.

Friday, November 1, 2024 - 9:30am

Jeremy Piercy

Law enforcement agencies often use genetic genealogy databases to track the origin of unidentified DNA samples. While the technique has shown promise in resolving cold cases, concerns about privacy, consent, and the potential for genetic profiling loom large. This course critically examines the balance between public safety and individual rights, weighing the ethical implications of accessing genetic data without explicit consent. By exploring these ethical dilemmas, it seeks to contribute to informed policy discussions and foster responsible implementation of genetic database usage in police investigations.

Friday November 1 - 11am

Kimberly Dodson

With a sociological analysis of the election, let's learn from Stephen how to view it through a new lens, to analyze what it means, and hopefully discern where we are going from here.

Friday November 8 - 9:30am

Stephen Cherry

In conversation with Dolen Perkins-Valdez's historical novel Take My Hand, the Common Reader Program explores the complicated history of public health, medical ethics, and community advocacy in the US South. We take as a case study New Orleans's Sophie Gumbel Home, a school for girls with cognitive disabilities that operated from 1922 to 1946.

Friday November 8 - 11am

Anne Gessler