Focusing on historical and current events in Native American lands struggles,Semken will discuss the Black Hills/Great Sioux wars, the long walk of theNavajo, the uranium boom on the plateau, the Navajo-Hopi land dispute and theuse of Shoshone/Paiute lands for nuclear testing.
Semken is one of nine distinguished speakers of the National Association ofGeoscience Teachers, and teaches at the oldest of 29 tribally-controlled NativeAmerican colleges in the U.S. His research interests include igneous systemsin the Colorado Plateau, the environmental impacts of coal and uranium mining,and ethnogeology and earth systems knowledge of the Navajo. In addition to theevening talk, Semken will discuss "Geoscience Education in a Dine (Navajo)Context" on Monday, March 31, at noon in the Science Building Room 109. Hewill talk about methods of integrating Dine concepts, empirical knowledge andphilosophy into geology content.
