• Monday October 19, 2009. 

  ‘Orchidaceae: A Global Perspective’ is a graphic survey of the major genera in the orchid family and looks at species from the many diverse regions of the globe. Special attention is also paid to the orchid genera of Kalamazoo County.  

   

  Adam Lenz is a double major in Music Composition and Anthropology from Parchment, Michigan. As a composer, Adam has had music performed in the New Sounds Festival at WMU, in Yerevan, Armenia, and has several forthcoming performances as the result of commissioning projects.  Adam plans to pursue graduate studies in ethnomusicology and historical musicology with a focus on Soviet period chamber music from the Caucasus and Central Asia. In June 2009, he traveled to Yerevan, Armenia to conduct research at the Aram Khachaturian House-Museum and the Komitas Conservatory of Music on University grant funding. The works collected will be presented in his Honors College Thesis concert in Spring 2010 and with his new chamber ensemble Muzika Russe. He serves as Vice President of the Society for Central Eurasian Studies at WMU and is active as a research assistant on a number of faculty research projects.

                                                                

  When he has spare time, Adam is a plant enthusiast and assists with WMU’s Orchid collection in addition to his personal orchid collection. He is a member of the Dunes-Kalamazoo Orchid Society and has experience in cultivating of 100 genera of Orchids. Adam has also worked in plant sales and customer service at Wenke Greenhouses and has completed his Advanced Master Gardener certification.  

   

  Oshtemo Public Library on West Main (M-43)

   

• Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Dr. David Karowe will be speaking to us about the possible future of S.W. Michigan’s plant communities within a context of projected climate changes globally and regionally.  He’ll address some of the major arguments advanced by climate-change skeptics and discuss how best to respond to the unreasonable.  Many of us will remember Dr. Karowe’s graphic presentations in recent years to the S.W. Michigan Botanical Club, Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones, and the Wildflower Association of Michigan.  He’s been presenting on climate change all around the region for over ten years now.
  
  The program will be at the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 2208 Winchell Ave. Socializing at 7:00 p.m., meeting and program at 7:30 p.m. 
  
  Dr. David Karowe received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan, and is currently a Professor of Biological Sciences at Western Michigan University.  Together with colleagues, Dr. Karowe has received over $6,500,000 from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the effects of rising atmospheric CO2 on plants and higher levels in the food chain, and to create and run a doctoral training program and an undergraduate research program in global change ecology.  He has also published numerous papers in scientific journals, and is currently writing a book on climate change and its ecological consequences.

• Monday, December 7, 2009. Plant Evolution by Todd Barkman (WMU)

(Annual potluck at Parkview Hills Clubhouse, 3707 Greenleaf Circle)