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<\/td>\n| Friday January 15, 2016 \n12:30-1:30 p.m. \nDampeer Room \nKelvin Smith Library \nCase Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n Elephants are some of the world’s most intelligent, emotional, and social creatures.<\/strong>\u00a0When a herd passes a deceased elephant’s bones, they stop to mourn their departed sister or brother. When a calf falls, not just his mother but his aunts and cousins come to help him up. They communicate over miles through vibrations in the ground, love to play, and humans love them for the ways in which they relate to each other and to us.<\/p>\n Humans have lived and worked with elephants for centuries. And now\u00a0humans are destroying them.<\/strong>\u00a0Poaching for elephants’ ivory tusks has reached epic proportions. From 2011 to 2014, 100,000 African elephants were slaughtered. Asian elephants are also threatened by poaching, and on both continents habitats are continually contracting.\u00a0Many experts fear wild elephants could be extinct within decades.<\/strong><\/p>\n Humans in western societies know elephants from circuses and zoos. But critics argue that those environments too are depressing and unhealthy for elephants. In response, zoo managers especially have worked to fit their habitats to elephants’ social needs \u2013 as in the Cleveland Zoo’s African Elephant Crossing. So the fate of elephants is in the balance, and that involves issues both about their lives in the wild and their lives with humans. Join us to discuss the future of one of the most magnificent and wonderful of our fellow-creatures.<\/p>\n All best regards, About Our Guest<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Kristen Lukas<\/strong>\u00a0is director of conservation and science at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. She oversees a large and diverse international conservation program and is especially committed to the study and conservation of African apes. She works with staff of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International\u2019s Karisoke Research Center\u2122 to train future conservation scientists in Rwanda and co-founded the Bwindi Apes Conservation Education Partnership in Uganda. As adjunct assistant professor in biology, Dr. Lukas serves as primary advisor to Ph.D. and M.S. students conducting research at the Zoo. She works with curators and other Zoo staff to improve scientific animal management and conducts research on the behavior, health, and welfare of a variety of vertebrate species at the Zoo. Her primary research interests include environmental and behavior, the etiology of abnormal behavior, and factors influencing conservation attitudes. Within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, she currently serves as Chair of the Gorilla Species Survival Plan\u00ae, Vice Chair of the Field Conservation Committee, and a member of the Research and Technology Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n Where We Meet<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.<\/span><\/p>\n Parking Possibilities<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.<\/span><\/p>\n Provisional Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n We have a provisional, almost-complete schedule for this semester’s discussions. Please check each week’s newsletter or the website to confirm the topic and speaker. Every semester there is at least one change.<\/p>\n January 22: The Use and Abuse of Arbitration Clauses in Contracts.<\/strong>\u00a0With Wilbur C. Leatherberry, J.D, Professor Emeritus of Law, and Spencer Neth, Professor Emeritus of Law at Case Western Reserve University.<\/p>\n January 29: What Should Be Expected of Accountable Care Organizations?<\/strong>\u00a0With Elizabeth R. Hammack Esq., Associate General Counsel, University Hospitals Health System.<\/p>\n February 5: China\u2019s One Child Policy.<\/strong>\u00a0With Lihong Shi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University.<\/p>\n February 12: Let’s Talk About Lincoln.<\/strong>\u00a0With Joseph White, Ph.D., Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy at Case Western Reserve University.<\/p>\n February 19: Criminal Justice Reform in Cuyahoga County.<\/strong>\u00a0With Lewis R. Katz, John C. Hutchins, J.D., Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University.<\/p>\n February 26: Update on the Presidential Campaign.<\/strong>\u00a0With Justin Buchler, Associate Professor of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University.\u00a0***Alternate Location: Kelvin Smith Library, Room LL06*** March 11: Spring Break March 25: Hosting the Super B**l of Politics.<\/strong>\u00a0With Brittany Williams, Senior Project Manager, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee.<\/p>\n April 1: TBA<\/strong><\/p>\n April 8: TBA<\/strong><\/p>\n April 15: Money, Happiness, and Redistribution.<\/strong>\u00a0With David Clingingsmith, Associate Professor of Economics.\u00a0***Alternate Location: Baker-Nord Center, Room 206, Clark Hall***<\/strong><\/p>\n April 22: Germany, Asylum and the Future of Europe.<\/strong>\u00a0With Kenneth F. Ledford, Associate Professor of History and Law and Chair, Department of History at Case Western Reserve University.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/p>\n Kristen Lukas, Ph.D. – Director of Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology at Case Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/p>\n Friday January 15, 2016 Dear Colleagues:<\/p>\n Elephants are some of the world’s most intelligent, emotional, and social creatures.<\/strong>\u00a0When a herd passes a deceased elephant’s bones, they stop to mourn their departed sister or brother. When a calf falls, not just his mother but his aunts and cousins come to help him up.<\/p>\n |