‘Voices of the Desert’ coming to UWSP

"Voices of the Desert" will be heard at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at a symposium on Thursday, April 20.

Students in Professor Doug Post's Biology 100 class have arranged the event with the assistance of Julie Hein-Frank, a naturalist educator with the Department of Natural Resources. All of the sessions in the University Center (UC) are open to the public without charge.

The program will open at 9 a.m. in the Laird Room with a welcome by UWSP Chancellor Thomas George, followed by an introduction by Biology Department Chair Robert Bell. A National Park Service video, "Voices of a Desert," featuring the Saguaro National Park, will be shown from 9:45 to 10 a.m.

Between 10:30 and noon in the Laird Room, Scott Wilkins of Phoenix, Ariz., will discuss Sonoran Desert Botany, UWSP Associate Professor Neil Heywood, geography/geology, will talk about the changes occurring in the Chihuahuan Desert and Dave Curson of UW-Madison will discuss land use in New Mexico.

From 1 to 1:30 p.m. and from 3 to 3:30 p.m., a children's puppet show, "No Way Jose," will be held in the La Follette Lounge. "Voices of a Desert" will be shown in the Laird Room every 15 minutes from 1 to 3 p.m.

From 1 to 2:15 p.m. in the Anderson Room, Robert Vadas of Potsdam, N.Y., will lead "Dine in the Desert: A Study of Navajo Adaptation." At the same time in the Green Room, Helen Bannan of UW-Oshkosh will discuss "Women in Southwestern Cultures."

From 2:15 to 3 p.m. in the Green Room, UWSP Professor Emeritus Thomas Overholt, philosophy, will give a cross-cultural perspective on life in the desert and Bell will discuss desert algae rocks. UWSP student dancers will perform in the Laird Room at 3 :30 p.m. A panel discussion in the Laird Room from 4 to 5 p.m. will feature Bell, Overholt, Bannan, Wilkins, Curson, Vadas and Heywood.

The event will conclude with a reception in the La Follette Lounge.

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