Ashlynn Stillwell, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will discuss her work on sustainable water and energy systems. Water and energy are closely linked resources with clean water and sanitation services dependent on energy, and fuels production and electric power generation dependent on water. This water-energy nexus spreads across scales to include large-scale infrastructure systems, societal trends and patterns, and individual behaviors.

This talk invites students and community members to explore how young researchers are helping uncover the layered histories of Native American boarding schools, especially in the heartland of Native America—Oklahoma. Centered on the collaboration of students and professionals engaged in mentored, community-centered research, this presentation highlights how archival searches, archaeology, oral histories, and digital mapping are used to understand and share Indigenous stories. Dr.

Aaron Hughes is an artist, curator, and anti-war veteran whose work explores the impact of war, violence, and trauma on individuals and communities. In this lecture, Hughes will share images and stories from his projects, which draw from his own military experience and long-standing activism. Through printmaking, installation, and collaboration, Hughes honors the legacy of anti-war veteran movements and imagines new paths toward justice and healing.

In conjunction with Hispanic LatinX Heritage Month, join award winning author and equity strategist Carlos Andrés Gómez for an engaging and interactive workshop that explores the complexity of Latinidad and identity. Through powerful storytelling, poetry, and guided reflection, Carlos will invite participants to explore how culture, race, gender, and other intersecting identities shape our understanding of self and community.

Asian American youth literature had a slow start in the early twentieth century. Books were mostly in the genres of folk and fairy tales and written by outsiders at that time. There were books about Asians in Asia, but almost nothing about Asians in the United States. After World War II and the Korean War, some books about Japanese American incarceration and Korean War orphans emerged, but it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement that more books shared stories of Asians in the United States.

On Thursday, October 16, 2025, The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies presents the Mary and James Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series featuring Jon Grinspan and Colleen Shogan speaking on the topic of Abraham Lincoln and the Age of Disruption.

From Cradle to Grave: Stages of 1800s Women's Clothing

Lecture by Erika Holst

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Christine Dannhausen-Brun, the Chief Operations Officer of Nordson Green Earth, a non-profit and all-volunteer organization based in Chicago, will discuss her work using the Miyawaki method of tree planting to bring the benefits of forests to urban communities. By creating tiny native forests, Nordson builds tree equity and helps ensure that everyone can benefit from the health, community, and social benefits that greenspaces provide. Miyawaki forests grow quickly and are self-sustaining in two to three years and mature in twenty to thirty years (versus centuries).

In recent years the world has watched major wars develop across the globe including in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan. These conflicts share similarities and differences from historical wars. Additionally, these conflicts have had immense global implications including a rise in displaced people, changes in migration patterns, famine, new challenges in international alliances, and the reconsideration of domestic and foreign policy goals at the state level, not to mention the potential long-term influences these conflicts will have on elections and public opinion.

Dr. Battalora’s lecture entitled, “What Does It Mean To Be White” will feature a discussion on the relationship that exists between the American system of law and jurisprudence and the perpetuation of “whiteness” as the dominant Narrative of Socio-political and cultural identity within the United States.