Anya Butt, professor of biology at Central College, will present “Data Builds a Tapestry: Defining and Understanding Our Community Via the Census.” The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26, in the Boat and Moore Rooms in Maytag Student Center on Central’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The presentation delves into the upcoming 2020 census, explores lessons learned from previous censuses and reflects on the “American Tapestry,” which provides a detailed description of America’s neighborhoods as defined by our demographics.
Butt has a bachelor’s degree in geology from Mount Holyoke College. She also holds a master’s degree in physical geography from the University of Toronto and a doctorate in hydrology/hydrogeology from the University of Nevada. She has lived on six of the world’s seven continents and teaches primarily in Central’s environmental studies program.
Butt’s lecture is the first in a series of four presentations in Central’s 2018-19 Living in Community Faculty Lecture Series. Each lecture will address such questions as: What does it mean to live in community? What connects us and what separates us as community members? How do we create communities that are good for everyone?
Later lectures in the same series will explore novelist Thomas Pynchon’s search for community, whether immigrants lower wages for native workers and how the views of ancient philosophers can help us address current political and social concerns. For more information, go to central.edu/academic-theme.
