The Ruth A. Myers Lecture Series in the Sciences and Humanities commemorates the fundamental importance of the liberal arts tradition to higher education and to understanding who we are as human beings in this complex world. Ruth A. Myers was a champion of Indigenous education and among the founders of Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College.
Join us on March 30 for this year’s lecture, Can Art Save Our Earth? by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Gwen Westerman.
Date: March 30
Schedule:
Feast: 6:00pm
Presentation: 7:00pm
Location: FDLTCC or Zoom
https://minnstate.zoom.us/j/99942250838
Passcode: fdltcc
Ruth Myers was the grandmother of American Indian education in Minnesota, and she consistently encouraged people to pursue higher learning, including friend Jack Briggs, through her outgoing personality and spirit.
As an education advocate, Myers was relentless and courageous, and she worked on approximately 70 boards/commissions in support of American Indians during her lifetime. She was the first American Indian to be appointed to the Minnesota State Board of Education, and the first American Indian to serve on the Duluth School Board. She also chaired the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College task force in 1986 that helped establish the permanent campus in Cloquet.
Can Art Save Our Earth? by Gwen Westerman, Minnesota Poet Laureate
Summary:
In a time when it seems we are inundated with competing priorities and contradictory messages, how do we make sense of the world we are living in? What are our responsibilities to our Earth, the mother of all we know? Maybe the answers are in the deeper connections of a creative process that help restore our relationships with each other and with the Earth.
Gwen Nell Westerman is a poet, a teacher, and a fiber artist, which are all aspects of storytelling. And on occasion, she sings, too. A member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, she is a Professor in English at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and teaches Technical Communication, Literature, Creative Writing, and Humanities. She serves as the current Minnesota Poet Laureate.
Gwen Nell Westerman, Minnesota Poet Laureate. Photo credit: Braunshausen Photography
Getting to Campus:
Take the Highway 33/Cloquet exit from Interstate 35, go north approximately one mile to Washington Avenue and turn right. Go to the first stop sign at 14th Street. Turn right onto 14th Street and follow for about one mile. The campus is on the right hand side of 14th Street. Parking is available in any of the lots that surround the main building. On-campus parking is free.