Getting to know the word around you: An illustrated conversation

Provost's Seminar Series is hosting Dr. Jerry Jackson, FGCU Prof. Emeritus, Ecological Sciences, and Nicholas G. Penniman IV, Past Chair of Conservancy of Southwest Florida and Florida Master Naturalist. Dr. Jackson and Mr. Penniman will lead "Getting to Know the World Around You: An Illustrated Conversation," on Thursday, April 10, 2025, 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m., in The Water School (AB9), Room 106.

More about the speakers:

For the past 20 years WGCU listeners have been informed about the world around them here in Southwest Florida by Dr. Jerry Jackson’s With the Wild Things.

Every weekday morning at 7:19, every week of the year, Dr. Jackson – a world-renowned wildlife biologist and ornithologist – has explored the animals and plants that inhabit this area’s beaches, swamps, preserves, and even our own backyards. He has helped to create context for listeners about the flora and fauna that makes this part of the world unique.

Dr. Jackson is professor emeritus of Ecological Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, and professor emeritus at Mississippi State University. Over his more than 50-year career, he’s publishing scores of reviewed papers, and published or contributing to hundreds of articles. He was also principle scientist, and appeared in, the feature-length movie Ghost Bird, which explores the Ivory-billed woodpecker, a species that is possibly extinct but whose continued existence remains highly debated.

Nicholas G. Penniman IV is a resident of Naples, Florida, and Baltimore, Maryland, and former publisher of the St. Louis Post- Dispatch. Penniman has been deeply involved in environmental advocacy work; he served as chair of American Rivers in Washington, D.C., and chair of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples. He is past chairman of the Washington University Interdisciplinary Environmental Law Clinic, past chairman of Forest Park Forever, served a four-year term as a member of the Collier County Environmental Advisory Council, is currently Vice Chair of the Collier County Growth Management Oversight Committee, and is a registered Florida Master Naturalist. Penniman is a graduate of Princeton University, and did graduate work at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and at Washington University in St. Louis where he received an M.A. in American Culture Studies in 1999. G. Penniman IV is a resident of Naples, Florida, and Baltimore, Maryland, and former publisher of the St. Louis Post- Dispatch. Penniman has been deeply involved in environmental advocacy work; he served as chair of American Rivers in Washington, D.C., and chair of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples. He is past chairman of the Washington University Interdisciplinary Environmental Law Clinic, past chairman of Forest Park Forever, served a four-year term as a member of the Collier County Environmental Advisory Council, is currently Vice Chair of the Collier County Growth Management Oversight Committee, and is a registered Florida Master Naturalist. Penniman is a graduate of Princeton University, and did graduate work at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and at Washington University in St. Louis where he received an M.A. in American Culture Studies in 1999. Nick is also a Florida Master Naturalist.