Indigneous Author Robin Wall Kimmerer To Speak at SUNY Oneonta

ONEONTA—Robin Wall Kimmerer, PhD, best-selling author, mother, scientist, professor and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is coming to SUNY Oneonta.

Kimmerer will share unique storytelling on the history of plants from a combined point of view of scientific inquiry and indigenous knowledge during SUNY Oneonta’s 2025 Cornell-Gladstone-Hanlon-Kaufmann Lecture in Environmental Education and Communication on Wednesday, April 9 at 7 p.m. in the Hunt Ballroom at SUNY Oneonta. The event is free and open to the public.

“The CGHK Lecture Committee seeks suggestions for potential speakers for the annual lecture from the campus community. Robin Wall Kimmerer had been on the committee’s wish list for several years and with the announcement of a new book release of “The Serviceberry” this year we had more recommendations from the campus for her. We were lucky enough that she accepted our offer for this lecture,” said SUNY Oneonta Associate Director of Sustainability Rachel Kornhauser.

According to a press release, Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of environmental biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, the mission of which is to create programs that draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for the shared goals of sustainability. In 2022, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Kimmerer is the author of articles and books including “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World,” and “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants,” which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. In 2022, “Braiding Sweetgrass” was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us.

CGHK Lecture Series aims to “bring to the SUNY Oneonta campus international leaders in environmental thought and education to interact with students and faculty on campus, and to present a free public lecture open to the members of the campus and greater community,” said Kornhauser. “We hope people will benefit from the unique perspective Robin Wall Kimmerer brings about what we can learn from the natural world and indigenous perspectives.”