Host: Jill DesiminiLocation: YNG 132Webex:s.uconn.edu/psla_seminars (http://s.uconn.edu/psla_seminars)   Before a Plant Arrives on Site: Politics, Migrations, and Possibilities of the Plant Nursery Trade   It's a familiar scene: A tree arrives to the construction site, swaddled in burlap, wrapped with twine, and strapped down to the bed of an eighteen-wheeler after a thousand-mile journey to site. The landscape designer who carefully selected every aspect of it— its genus and species, its caliper, maybe even down to the proprietary cultivar—works with the landscape crew to carefully place the tree— rootball and all—into place, just so. But what geographic relationships, market forces, federal policies, horticultural ideologies, and labor preceded this plant's arrival on site? How are plants in the nursery industry tended, marketed, and transported, and in what ways do those processes delineate who gets to be comfortable and at whose expense? Thinking through a Philadelphia street tree and its expansive terrains of carbon and temperature, this talk traces the uneven heat geographies and politics of exposure inherent to the industrial US nursery trade. Case studies for growing otherwise are analyzed along the axes of labor, carbonized freight geographies, and ecosystem genetics. Leah Kahler is a landscape designer and researcher whose work probes the socioecological legacies of the plantation landscape, focused on urban-rural connections through sites of labor, extraction, and production. Their work attends to the often-invisible dynamics of power, resource, and politics that shape the material processes of the built environment and produce meaning across space. Leah's current project, conducted with support from the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, investigates the socio-ecological geographies of the global plant nursery trade through ethnographic fieldwork and archival methods. Leah earned a Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia, where their research as a Benjamin C. Howland Fellow explored the possibilities of an abolition ecology through speculative fictions at the site currently known as the Louisiana State Penitentiary. While at UVA, Leah co-edited the 15 th volume of LUNCH design journal, themed THICK. They were a 2021 Landscape Architecture Foundation Olmsted Scholar finalist, and she received the LAF Honor Scholarship in Memory of Joe Lalli, FASLA. Kahler practiced with Reed Hilderbrand's Cambridge studio, where they played a key role in the design and construction of a 24-acre public park on the Tennessee River in Knoxville. Kahler has taught at the Boston Architectural College and more recently at University of Pennsylvania as the 2024-2025 McHarg Fellow where they received the G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Teaching Award. They hold a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and the Growth and Structure of Cities from Bryn Mawr College.

Trevor HunterHird Lab (https://hirdlab.mcb.uconn.edu/) Microbiomes within the Lumen and Mucosal Layer of Bird Intestines

Students who may benefit from attending a Let's Talk: Mental Health Office Hours session include:Students who want help connecting to resources but are unsure where to begin Students who are looking for advice on a non-clinical issue Students who are unsure about therapy and are curious about what it is like to talk to a therapist Students who may have concerns about the mental health of a friend and seek advice on how to support their friend If a student is not an imminent risk, and is refusing your support in contacting our office, you may also consider contacting the UConn Student CARE Team (https://studentcareteam.uconn.edu/). This session is held by Graciela Quinones-Rodriguez, LCSW (https://studenthealth.uconn.edu/person/graciela-quinones-rodriguez/)

Join us for "Applying to Graduate School" and learn from the people who make decisions about admitting students into graduate programs. Our panelists will explain what they look for in applicants, and what mistakes you should avoid. There will be ample time for questions. Featuring Rachel Szostak (School of Law), Melanie Newport (History), and Alexander Menrisky (English).

Families with Addiction This group is for students who are or have been deeply affected by having parent(s) or sibling(s) struggling with addictions. May also consider situations where the family member's primary issue is a severe psychiatric disorder, but that substance use is also present. To join this group therapy session, please call SHaW at 860-486-4700 (tel:+18604864705) This session is held by Sarah Hallwood, LCSW, LICSW (https://studenthealth.uconn.edu/person/sarah-hallwood/) For many concerns that students face – like overwhelming stress, anxiety, difficult relationships, depression, academic difficulties, and more – group therapy is the best option for support and healing. Facilitated by Student Health and Wellness (SHaW) counselors, our therapy groups encourage peer support, promote emotional wellbeing, and increase a felt sense of connection. Participants often find that they feel less alone in their struggles, and walk away with newfound support and ideas for coping.