2012 SBS Summer Seminar Series  

June 7

The Latino Factor and the Presidential Election

The United States has struggled over the topic of immigration since its founding, and immigration policy continues to be a pervasive part of the political landscape.  As we head into the 2012 Presidential Election, the debate over immigration will once again rise as an important political issue. The objective of this seminar is to explore two important aspects of immigration within the context of the election.  First, this seminar will look at the history of immigration policy in the United States and how it has developed into the issue we know it as today.   Second, we will analyze the political and institutional forces that influence this debate, and how language is a central component of the promotion of policies sought by these forces. Through the lens of the presidential election we will view how this debate will influence the future of immigration reform and how it is impacted by our discussions about civil liberties, economics, civic participation and cultural assimilation. 

Stephen Nuno, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Politics and International Affairs
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June 14

Managing “Wreck-reation” on Public Lands

With increasing motorized and non-motorized recreation activities on our Public Lands, the resource base has borne the brunt of more trucks, more cars, more boats, more motorcycles, more ATV’s, more RV’s, more horses, and more feet!  A question that has challenged and baffled public land managers for decades is “how many is too many?”  This presentation will explore current techniques which enable site managers to keep recreation from becoming “wreck-reation”.

Pam Foti, PhD
Professor
Department of Geography, Planning & Recreation 
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June 21 

The Day We Almost Lost Flagstaff:  Assessing Wildfire Damage OR Wildfires in the Southwest: Visualization and analysis using geospatial technologies

Several large, devastating wildfires have occurred in Arizona during the past two years, with 2011 being the worst year in state history for area burned.  Modern geospatial technologies permit unprecedented visualization and analysis of recent wildfire activity from global to local scales.  Our recent wildfire activity in the Southwest is put into a larger context by global-scale analyses, whereas site-specific analyses allow us to examine highly localized landscape change resulting from high-severity fire occurrences.

 
Erik Schiefer, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography, Planning & Recreation  
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June 28 

Beyond Tony Hillerman: Native American Cultural and Eco-tourism  

Millions of visitors travel to Northern Arizona and the Four Corners region of the Southwest each year, drawn to the striking beauty of natural landscapes throughout the region as well as to the Native American peoples of the area. This seminar will explore what experiences those visitors seek, and how ecotourism and cultural tourism serve as an economic driver for the region, while offering promise for conservation of natural landscapes and sustainable economic development for native peoples in the Four Corners.

Karen L. Jarratt-Snider, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Applied Indigenous Studies  
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July 5  

Are We Happy Yet?

The pursuit of happiness is a cherished right for all Americans since the Declaration of Independence was written. Yet, some individuals struggle in this pursuit. Dr. Demir will provide a history of the empirical research on happiness, highlight the individual and societal benefits of being happy, and present a comprehensive list of factors and activities that have been found to promote individual happiness. The audience will have a chance to participate in an experiment that will examine the immediate effectiveness of happiness-increasing activities.

Meliksah Demir, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
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July 12 

Terrorism and the Gentle Sex 

Commonly held notions suggest that women are generally peaceful and challenge our perceptions of women as terrorists, including suicide bombers. This discussion will focus on the motivations and portrayals of women terrorists. In addition, we will consider the intersection between gender and terrorism at other levels in society, including women elites' responses to terrorism and media portrayal of elites in security positions and the intersection between gender and voting behavior related to terrorism/security. Dr. Poloni-Staudinger will draw from her experiences and direct interviews researching ETA and Basque violence, but will also speak broadly about other national-separatist terrorism and Islamic terrorism. 

Lori M Poloni-Staudinger, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Politics and International Affairs 
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