Robin Wall Kimmerer

Mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Robin Wall Kimmerer is the author of The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

Center for Native Peoples and the Environment

Robin Wall Kimmerer is the founder and director of the SUNY ESF Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, which creates programs that draw on the wisdom of both Indigenous and scientific knowledge in support of our shared goals of environmental sustainability.

In addition to serving as a bridge between traditional ecological knowledge and western scientific approaches, the Center incorporates Indigenous perspectives and knowledge for the benefit of native students and works to educate mainstream students in a cross-cultural context.

The Center includes a significant outreach element focused on increasing educational opportunities for Native American students in environmental sciences, research collaborations, and partnerships with Native American communities to address local environmental problems.

Youth Environmental Leadership Award

Ja’Harmony Johnson is a senior at North Chicago Community High School involved in TRiO Educational Talent Search, where she strengthens her academic skills, leadership, and college readiness. Ja’Harmony is an active volunteer with community organizations and  events, and aspires to become both a lawyer and an educator, driven by her passion for justice, learning, and helping others grow.  She cares deeply about nature and environmental justice, and hopes  to use her voice and future career to protect the earth and advocate for healthier communities.

Victor Hinojosa is a first year student at the University of Chicago studying Political Science and Public Policy Studies. A native son of Waukegan and Lake County, Victor brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing low-income communities and knows well what it means to work hard, never give up, and always put one’s best foot forward. His journey starts with a passion for community service, activism, and the political forums that shape our day-to-day life. He’s involved in national organizations like Students Protecting Education, The National Student Board Member Association, and the College Democrats. At the end of the day, his mission in life is to make this world a better place, for a better world is possible.

Emcees

Donna La Pietra and Bill Kurtis will grace the stage as Emcees of the 41st Annual Smith Nature Symposium. Their contributions to news-broadcasting, documentary film production, and conservation have made them longtime legends in Chicagoland.

After starting his career as a journalist, Bill became the news anchor for CBS at Chicago’s WBBM Channel 2, where he met Donna, who would become the channel’s Executive Producer. Bill is also the judge and voice of the popular news radio show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Donna and Bill are known for their documentary film production company, Kurtis Productions, and for their devotion to supporting local nonprofits.

History of the Smith Nature Symposium

On May 6, 1984, more than 350 people gathered for the first Smith Nature Symposium featuring Roger Tory Peterson. Organized under the leadership of Barbi Donnelley, Symposium Co-Chair, this jam-packed convening of nature-lovers became the first of four decades of annual Symposia memorializing the significant civic legacy of Hermon Dunlap and Ellen Thorne Smith, who donated their land and cabin to help form Ryerson Woods.

Hermon, or Dutch, was chair and CEO of Marsh & McLennan, and led The Chicago Community Trust, Newberry Library, and many other Chicago Institutions. Ellen was a philanthropic leader and champion of nature with organizations such as The Field Museum and Chicago Zoological Society.

For more than forty years, the Smith Nature Symposium has brought people together to celebrate nature and imagine healthy and thriving human and ecological communities.