January 26, 2022—Inuit Art Communities on Baffin Island and Aussie Travel and Trivia
This Armchair Traveler Program featured two very interesting presentation about two very different parts of the world. Kathryn Hanna, retired faculty member from the Waseca campus and the College of Biological Sciences on the Twin Cities campus, talked about how her interest in Inuit art resulted in a trip to Baffin Island where she visited three Inuit communities and met many Inuit artists. Her presentation was illustrated with beautiful pictures of Inuit art. Next Gene Allen, retired Professor, Dean, Provost and Associate Vice President for International Programs, took us to Australia, a country he has visited six times, first as a post-doc fellow in 1966-67 and more recently when leading several UM Global Seminars for students. Most of Gene’s time in Australia has been spent along or close to the eastern seaboard. He shared pictures and stories as we traveled with him from Melbourne to Cairns.
Experience the Australian Outback and Baffin Island, Canada
Wed, Jan 26 2022, 10am
Join us to see photos and learn about Australia’s geological and human history and the Inuit Art Communities on Baffin Island, Canada, when Armchair Traveler meets via Zoom on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Our travel guides will be Gene Allen and Kathryn Hanna. Allen’s presentation will feature some of Australia’s flora, fauna, favorite tourist sites, and basics about the country’s geological and human history. Hanna’s presentation will feature three Inuit communities with active art programs in the Nunavut territory of northern Canada.
Allen, a professor emeritus of animal science, retired in 2009 after 43 years at the U that included teaching and working as a dean, provost, and associate vice president of international programs. His experiences include four U of M Global Seminars on human and environmental interactions in Australia.
Hanna was a faculty member in the Department of Biology Teaching and Learning and associate dean in the College of Biological Sciences. She also taught for 20 years at the University of Minnesota, Waseca.
I will email a Zoom invite to all UMRA members about a week before the presentation. We hope you will join us!
—Lynn C. Anderson, Armchair Traveler chair
Upcoming Events
Joni Mitchell will lead the discussion of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne when the UMRA book club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 19.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has attracted substantial debate recently because it can be used in many contexts, including educational settings to do things such as answer exam questions and write papers. But what is generative AI? And how can we know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing? Law School Professor Daniel Schwarcz will enlighten us during UMRA’s Luncheon Forum on April 23.
UMRA’s spring Armchair Traveler Program from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 24, will take us to South Korea with Marilyn DeLong and to Germany with Lynn C. Anderson. Please mark your calendars and save the date.
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Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.