Graves Lecture Series starts Tuesday

Woman posing outside
Kat Shiffler, a landscape artist with the National Park Service, will be the first Graves Lecture Series speaker for Fall 2023. Her presentation, Trail Town USA, will be Sept. 19, 2023, in the Sandoz Center at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. (Courtesy photo, used with permission)

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CHADRON – The Graves Lecture Series at Chadron State College will include three speakers during the fall semester. The series opens Tuesday with a presentation, Trail Town USA, by Kat Shiffler. Subsequent lectures will be Oct. 3 by Dr. Haesong Kwon and Oct. 24 by Danielle Covolo. All presentations are free and open to the public in the Sandoz Center’s Chicoine Atrium at 7 p.m.

Shiffler is a Landscape Architect with the National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program based in Omaha. She supports community-led conservation and outdoor recreation planning and design in the region. With a background in rural economic development, she provides technical assistance and project support to small towns.

In addition to her Graves Lecture, she will speak Tuesday at 11 a.m. about her work in an informal session open to the public in Old Admin Room 227.

Shiffler will explore her agency’s work with communities to plan and design recreation and conservation opportunities and share some good examples of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure for small towns that serve as valuable community assets for residents and attract visitors, stimulating local businesses.

“Successful trail towns emerge from improved services and amenities; a culture of hospitality, stewardship and inclusivity; and from regional efforts to improve connectivity between the trail and towns along the route,” she said.

Shiffler will include information about the National Park Service’s collaborative trail projects, including the Cowboy Trail and the Great American Rail Trail.

Kwon’s Oct. 3 presentation is titled Poems that Can Drive a Fully Grown Human to Sob Uncontrollably.

He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at CSC, who teaches courses in composition and creative writing.  

When he joined the faculty in 2022, he said his English colleagues impressed him as dedicated teachers and researchers.

He earned a doctorate at Oklahoma State University and master’s degrees from both the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Iliff School of Theology. His bachelor’s is from Clark University.

“My lecture is for those who believe in the power of a good cry. It is for those who have not yet given up on the power of the written word to evince complicated, salvific truths,” he said.

Kwon will offer a close reading of several of his favorite poems that evoke powerful, emotional responses. He will also speak about persuasive line breaks in poetry, the challenges of composing poems in English as a second language learner, and human tears as a response to moments in literature.

Covolo’s Oct. 24 presentation is titled Sacred Knowledge. She is an Instructor teaching Topics in Corrections (Principles of Victim Services), Topics in Law Enforcement (Domestic Violence and Crime), Serial Killers in Popular Culture, and The Academic Life.

“Teaching at CSC was my academic career aspiration since the college serves rural students and first-generation students," said Covolo who participated in CSC's study abroad trip to the United Kingdom.

She is pursuing a doctorate in Administration Leadership and Service from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from New Mexico State University, and a bachelor’s from the University of Wyoming. She also completed Russian Language courses at Privet Language School in Russia.

Covolo’s presentation addresses the topic of missing and murdered Indigenous persons on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She will include related topics such as a return to the localization of resources and tribal sovereignty.

-Daniella Akwanamnye

Category: Campus News, Graves Lecture Series