The College of Wooster will welcome acclaimed author, botanist, and Indigenous scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer for the annual Mortensen Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in Freedlander Theatre at 329 E. University Street. Kimmerer, a MacArthur Fellow and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is known for her New York Times bestselling book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, which brings together Indigenous knowledge and scientific perspectives to explore humanity's relationship with the natural world.
Selected as the first-year reading for Wooster's Class of 2030, her latest book, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, draws on lessons from nature to examine how gratitude, reciprocity, and community can shape relationships with one another and the environment. Supported by the Peter Mortensen Endowed Lecture Fund, her presentation will offer students and community members an opportunity to engage with the author and the ideas explored in her work. A book signing will follow the Nov. 4 lecture.
Kimmerer’s visit continues with a hands-on “Bloom” event on Thursday, Nov. 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Allen Commons (second floor of Lowry Center, 1189 Beall Avenue). Welcoming the local community, the event is part of Plant Baby Plant, a nationwide grassroots movement led by Kimmerer. Guests are encouraged to dress in layers and arrive ready to plant.
“Plant Baby Plant is rooted in joy and reciprocity,” said Kimmerer. “We’re inviting people everywhere to see caring for the land as a personal practice and a collective participation in our mutual flourishing.”
An enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and founder and director emeritus of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, which brings together Indigenous and scientific knowledge to advance environmental understanding and stewardship. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, received the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her work has also appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain and numerous scientific journals. Named a MacArthur Fellow in 2022, Kimmerer was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Her work explores the connections between ecological restoration, Indigenous traditions, and the relationships people cultivate with the land. She was also recently featured on CBS Sunday Morning News discussing the lessons people can learn from the natural world.
Both the lecture and “Bloom” event are free and open to the public and supported by the Mortensen Fund. Established in 2006 through a gift from Peter Mortensen ’56 in gratitude for the College's contributions to four generations of his family, the fund supports public lectures and performances connected to the First-Year Seminar and the College's academic program.
Featured image of Kimmerer is provided by the subject with photo credit to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.