2024鈥25 Events
Star Gazing at CERA
Friday, May 9, 2025
7:30鈥10:30 p.m.
Experience the allure and beauty of the prairie after the sun sets. The Center for Prairie Studies invites you to the College鈥檚 Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA) on the evening of Friday, May 9, for a family friendly program and study break.
Enjoy s鈥檓ores by the campfire and explore the woods on a guided night hike with CERA Manager Emily Klein. Professor Bob Cadmus will teach participants how to explore the night sky and learn constellations, stars, and planets. Bring binoculars, flashlights, and headlamps, if you have them.
The College will provide transportation to CERA or you may drive on your own. Transportation will leave from the Joe Rosenfield 鈥25 Center at 7:30 p.m. and will return to campus at 10:30 p.m. Space is limited and on a first-come first-served basis. If you would rather drive your own car to CERA: the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 146 in 海角社区黑料吃瓜, take Highway 6 west for 10.3 miles. Turn left (south) onto Highway 224, continue 2.2 miles, passing under Interstate 80. Turn left onto South 28th Avenue East (gravel), continue 1 mile. Turn left (north) at the first crossing onto East 108 Street South. Follow 1.9 miles to the entrance, following road right as it becomes South 12th Avenue East and look for the Henry S. Conard Environmental Research Station sign. Parking is available at the Environmental Education Center (EEC.)
In case of rainy weather, we will only have indoor activities.
Accommodations are available for persons with disabilities as guests of the College. If you need an accommodation to attend an event that is open to the public, contact Emily Klein at 641-260-6429, and she will assist you with the accommodation that you need. Minors under the age of 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 海角社区黑料吃瓜 is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.
Woodland Wildflower Walks at CERA
Join the Center for Prairie Studies for a relaxing woodland wildflower walk at CERA on Thursday, April 24, from 4:15鈥6:45 p.m. and again on Saturday, April 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Emily Klein and Jake Hill will lead a 1.5-mile woodland wildflower hike at Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA). Spring ephemeral wildflowers grow and flower before the forest trees leaf out and are only around for a few weeks at the beginning of spring! Wear long pants and close-toed shoes or boots and bring a water bottle.
Transportation will depart and return to the Rosenfield Center at the times noted above. Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come basis. You鈥檙e welcome to drive yourself. We hope you can join us!
Water Quality Testing
Tuesday, April 22, 5鈥7 p.m.
Arbor Lake (North parking lot)
What鈥檚 in our streams and rivers? Whether they run through cities, towns, farm fields, or stormwater systems, sometimes our waterways have contaminants that aren鈥檛 good for the plants and animals that live there. The Center for Prairie Studies invites you to celebrate Earth Day by coming down to Arbor Lake to learn how you can monitor water quality in your favorite stream! We will be trained by Ginny Malcomson, water quality coordinator for Polk County Conservation. The event runs 5鈥7 p.m. April 22. Join at 4:45 in front of the Rosenfield Center for pickup or drive your own vehicle to meet in the north parking lot at Arbor Lake Park. Take Highway 146 (aka West Street) south from the intersection of Highway 146 & Highway 6 and turn west on Washington Street. Park in the lot at the end of Washington.
Earth Week Activities
April 20鈥26
Bottle to Drinking Glass, During Stew Open Hours
Join the Center for Prairie Studies and the Stew Makerspace during Earth Week to cut glass bottles and make crafts in an effort to reuse materials and reduce waste on our planet! Bring your own bottles with labels removed.
T-Shirt Painting
Rosenfield Center, at tables outside the dining hall
- April 21, 11 a.m.鈥1 p.m.
- April 23, 11 a.m. 鈥1 p.m.
- April 26, 2鈥4 p.m.
USDA Cuts for Local Foods
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
HSSC S1325, 4:15 p.m.
How are budget cuts at the U. S. Department of Agriculture affecting our access to healthy local foods? What is happening to the farmers who grow food that people eat in Iowa and sell their products via farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture? Bring your questions to our panel discussion with Jordan Scheibel 鈥10, Jonathan Gilmour 鈥12, and Sachiko Graber 鈥19 and find out! Join us in conversation about how draconian budget cuts are hollowing out the programs that guarantee low-income access to fresh, healthy food from local farmers.
- Jordan Scheibel 鈥10&苍产蝉辫;(history), local farmer (Middle Way Farms, 海角社区黑料吃瓜 Farm to Table)
- Sachi Graber 鈥12 (physics), founder of Waxwing Consulting LLC and former associate director for Climate with The Nature Conservancy
- Jonathan Gilmour 鈥19 (computer science), data scientist at Harvard focusing on human health impacts of climate change and the environmental impacts of AI and data centers
This event is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.
Peep, Moo, Oink, Woof!
Spring Farm Tour of Local
Compass Plant CSA with Ann Brau
Saturday, April 5, 2025
2鈥4 p.m.
Compass Plant CSA is 海角社区黑料吃瓜's first established consumer supported agriculture (CSA) group formed in 2000. They focus on environmentally responsible farming practices in their gardens and with their livestock. During the tour you will get a chance to see baby chicks, bottle calves, little piglets, and a farm dog named Oakley! Wear closed-toe shoes and clothes that can get dirty. You鈥檒l have a fun time interacting with farm animals.
Transportation will be provided departing in front of the Rosenfield Center at 1:45 p.m. and returning to campus at 4:30 p.m. (first-come and until full). Feel free to join us if you have your own transportation. Compass Plant CSA is located at 2039 Penrose St. 海角社区黑料吃瓜, Iowa. Parking will be accessed from Penrose St. and you will need to park parallel along the driveway.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies. Everyone is welcomed.
Maple Sugaring at Jacob Krumm Nature Preserve
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025
4:30鈥6:30 p.m.
Join Greg Oldsen, naturalist with the Jasper County Conservation Department (JCCD) as he shows you the step-by-step process of collecting sap from the local trees at Krumm Preserve. He has been with JCCD for 11 years and provides environmental education opportunities to schools and public groups around the county.
In 2018, the JCCD built Uncle Jake鈥檚 Sugar Shack at Krumm Preserve. Each year, the staff taps around 100 silver maple trees for syrup production. Last year, JCCD staff updated its collection methods utilizing mainline tubing and a solar powered vacuum system to collect sap. Join us on Thursday, Feb. 27, for a tour of Uncle Jake鈥檚 Sugar Shack and the JCCD sugar bush.
Transportation will depart the Rosenfield Center drop-off location at 4:15 p.m. and will return to campus at 6:45 p.m. Space is limited to 25 participants and there will not be reservations for transportation. The vans will depart at 4:15 p.m. and will be filled on a first-come basis. You may join us at 4:30 p.m. at Krumm Preserve if you have your own transportation.
Please direct any questions to Emily Klein, the Center for Prairie Studies outreach coordinator, kleinemi@grinnell.edu.
Community Discussion on Climate Change: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025
7-9 p.m.
Rosenfield Center, Room 101,
Join us for a climate change discussion panel open to all 海角社区黑料吃瓜 students and faculty. This isn鈥檛 just another panel. It鈥檚 a chance to break down the barriers between disciplines and explore how we can work together to tackle one of the most urgent issues of our time. With topics ranging from climate modeling in the natural sciences to activism and policy in the humanities and social sciences, we bring together faculty from several departments to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
Let鈥檚 talk about the real-world impacts of climate change, from its disproportionate effects on vulnerable communities to the role of accountability and the future of activism. How can we bridge the gap between scientific innovation and the human stories behind the crisis? How does the language surrounding climate change shape public perception, and why is it a matter of political debate rather than a shared human challenge? And surely, you have many more questions to ask!
Whether you鈥檙e studying the sciences, arts, or anything in between, your voice matters! Come ask questions, share your thoughts, and be part of a meaningful conversation. Join us in imagining a more sustainable future!
Panelists
- Peter Jacobson (biology, environmental studies, global development studies)
- Leif Brottem (political science, global development studies)
- Putu Hiranmayena (music)
- Steve Andrews (English, American studies, policy studies)
- Liz Queathem (environmental studies, gender, women鈥檚, and sexuality studies (GWSS), Eco-Campus, co-chair)
- Evan Couzo (chemistry, environmental studies)
Organizers
- Adah Bryan 鈥25
- Debanjali Pathak 鈥25
- Istar Abdullahi 鈥25
- Mariela Lopez Gonzalez 鈥25
- Rachel Rudacille 鈥26
- Center for Prairie Studies
Special thanks to Robert Gehorsam 鈥76, Professors Peter Jacobson, Liz Queathem, and Edward Cohn for helping us make this event possible.
Ice Fishing, Hiking, and S鈥檓ores at CERA
Saturday, Feb. 8
1鈥4 p.m.
Get outside for some winter fun at CERA! Learn about ice safety and ice fishing on Perry Pond.
Take a winter hike and look for animal tracks on the trails. Snowshoes will be provided if there鈥檚 more than five (5) inches of snow.
Warm up by the fire with hot chocolate and s鈥檓ores. Wear multiple warm layers and waterproof boots for hiking.
Transportation will be provided departing in front of the Rosenfield Center at 12:30 p.m. and returning to campus at 4:30 p.m. (first-come and until full.) Feel free to join us if you have your own transportation.
Contact Emily Klein for driving directions or questions: kleinemi@grinnell.edu or 641-260-6429.
Barn Quilt Painting Workshop
Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025
2鈥5 p.m., HSSC N1164
Ever seen a barn beautifully adorned with a painted quilt block pattern? Patterns often refer to natural, cultural, or historical aspects of their settings, such as Iowa Star, Crow's Feet, and Crossing Birds.
Come to our workshop and paint your own miniature (6" square) quilt block to display in your home and learn about the history behind these beautiful patterns! Come any time during the session and stay until you鈥檝e completed your block.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.
Study Break: Winter at CERA
Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024
4:15鈥7 p.m. at Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA)
Join Emily Klein and Jake Hill at CERA and spend a few hours studying (wi-fi is available), just relaxing indoors or outside, or studying off-campus!
Are you interested in:
- relaxing off-campus
- night hiking
- just chillin鈥
- drinking hot chocolate
- sitting by a bonfire making s鈥檓ores
- studying (wi-fi is available)
Come see what CERA has to offer and enjoy a few hours off-campus. Transportation will be provided departing in front of the Rosenfield Center at 4:15 p.m. and returning to campus at 7 p.m. (first-come and until full.) Feel free to join us if you have your own transportation.
Contact Emily Klein for driving directions or questions: kleinemi@grinnell.edu or 641-260-6429.
Sandy Moffett, Professor Emeritus of Theatre
Book Talk: Emmi
Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024
4:15 p.m., HSSC S1325
Sandy Moffett, emeritus professor of theatre at 海角社区黑料吃瓜, joined the faculty in 1971 and continues to teach and direct plays on occasion, serving as a utility infielder for his department. An ardent outdoorsman and conservationist, he spends most of his time restoring prairie on his small farm, writing songs and stories, playing guitar and mandolin in The Too Many String Band, and catering to the whims of his three grandchildren. His writing has appeared in The Wapsipinicon Almanac, Rootstalk, Saltwater Sportsman, and other publications. This is his second novel.
Emily Reese, an eleven-year-old girl who has trouble reading, trouble with numbers, trouble with school, trouble with friends, who is only happy when she is alone in a special wild place that she considers her own.
Wade McPherson, an eighty-eight-year-old retired English professor whose life now revolves around a prairie he has restored and a woodland he likes to believe is his own.
Frank Reese, a single father who adores his daughter above all things and blames himself for the death of her mother in a car crash on an icy Chicago freeway.
Angelina Valenzuela, a young Mexican woman fleeing south Texas and a past she is not proud of who has come north to try and bring life to a shrunken heart.
In a small rural town in a southern Iowa county on the border of the Skunk River State Forest the largest and last remnant of wilderness in the state, these four enter into a battle against corporate greed, political ambition, and maniacal trophy addiction to save this wild place and a magnificent snow-white stag that is rumored to live there. Three murders bring a slew of other crazy characters into the fray as they fight to save these priceless remains of a time past.
鈥淓mmi is a captivating story about the undulating farmland, prairies and forests of southeast Iowa (not to mention South Dakota, backwater Texas and the sun swept mountains of Tajikistan). It鈥檚 about endearing people and nasty scumbag people. It鈥檚 a love story. It鈥檚 a coming-of-age story. It鈥檚 about courage and cowardice. It explores the wellsprings of our ancestry as hunter-gatherers and the poisoning of that well today. The centerpiece of the novel is the quest for a Melvillian albino stag, as fey as the evening light. But like all good fiction, the journey isn鈥檛 where the grace resides. It鈥檚 in Moffett鈥檚 myriad of humble (and often slyly humorous) observations along the way. These make the narrative as rich as a blooming prairie.鈥 鈥David G. Campbell, Ph.D., author, A Land of Ghosts: The Braided Lives of People and the Forest in Far Western Amazonia
鈥淟ike Faulkner, Sandy Moffett returns in this, his second, novel to the fictitious set