For the City Times

STEVENS POINT –University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point faculty will discuss a variety of topics, including turtles, science fiction, beer and democracy, as part of a public lecture series in the coming academic year.

The College of Letters and Science Community Lecture Series will be held on select Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Pinery Room at the Portage County Public Library, 1001 Main St., Stevens Point.

The first of eight lectures, “Mitigating Wildlife Mortality Along State Highway 66,” will be held Sept. 10, presented by Peter Zani of the Department of Biology at UW-Stevens Point. Learn how a tunnel underpass on Highway 66 near Jordan Pond has decreased mortality among turtles and other animals and improved driver safety since 2016.

An associate professor of biology, Zani has studied reptiles and amphibians for 25 years, traveling to Brazil, Ecuador and Nicaragua. His research focuses on how animals cope with seasonal environments and climate change. He is also curator of amphibians and reptiles for the UW-Stevens Point Museum of Natural History.

The 2019-2020 Community Lecture Series schedule also includes: Oct. 8 – “The History of Beer,” Terese Barta, Department of Biology; Nov. 12 – “The Role of Media in a Healthy Democracy,” Saemyi Park, Department of Political Science; Dec. 10 – “Understanding Society Through Science Fiction,” David Barry, Department of Sociology and Social Work; Feb. 4 – “Preserving the Legacy of Place,” Douglas Miskowiak, Department of Geography and Geology; March 10 – “Refugee Literature: Writing and Refugitude,” Lauren Gantz, Department of English; April 7 – “Data Analytics: Past, Present and Future,” Kurt Pflughoeft, Department of Computing and New Media Technologies; and May 5 – “Wicked and Cruel: Joshua Glover and Wisconsin’s Fight Against Federal Tyranny,” Rob Harper, Department of History and International Studies.

For more information, visit www.uwsp.edu/cols/lectureseries or email [email protected]wsp.edu.