Indigenous Stewardship Takes Center Stage at Loyola SES Speaker Series
Loyola University Chicago School of Environmental Sustainability (SES) will be welcoming Gina Roxas the Executive Director of the Trickster Cultural Center as part of its speaker series highlighting environmental leadership across the Chicagoland area. The event is scheduled for April 15th, and will bring together the entire community of SES including students, faculty, and staff for an afternoon of conversation on sustainability, justice, and community-based environmental work. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Roxas, who is a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, has built her career around uplifting Indigenous knowledge and strengthening the connections between culture and environmental stewardship. As Executive Director of the Trickster Cultural Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, she leads initiatives that center Indigenous arts, land-based education, youth leadership, and community partnerships. Her work emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural knowledge while applying it to contemporary environmental challenges.
Her talk, “Land, Responsibility, and Indigenous Stewardship,” will explore the deep and reciprocal relationship between Indigenous communities and the land. For many Indigenous peoples, land is not simply a resource but a relative; it is something to be cared for, respected, and sustained for future generations. Roxas will draw from her experiences in the Great Lakes region to discuss how Indigenous approaches to land stewardship and restoration are rooted in responsibility, and place-based knowledge.
The seminar will also invite attendees to consider how these perspectives can shape broader conversations around sustainability and environmental justice. By highlighting community-led environmental work and Indigenous ways of knowing, Roxas aims to offer insights that challenge conventional approaches to sustainability and encourage more holistic, inclusive solutions.
The event will take place on April 15, beginning with a social from 3:30–4:00 p.m. in the SES atrium (by the aquaponics), followed by the seminar from 4:00–5:00 p.m. in SES 111. As part of SES’s ongoing effort to connect students with leaders in the field, Roxas’s visit represents an opportunity to engage with ideas that are both deeply rooted in tradition and highly relevant to today’s environmental challenges.
Loyola University Chicago School of Environmental Sustainability (SES) will be welcoming Gina Roxas the Executive Director of the Trickster Cultural Center as part of its speaker series highlighting environmental leadership across the Chicagoland area. The event is scheduled for April 15th, and will bring together the entire community of SES including students, faculty, and staff for an afternoon of conversation on sustainability, justice, and community-based environmental work. This lecture is free and open to the public.
Roxas, who is a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, has built her career around uplifting Indigenous knowledge and strengthening the connections between culture and environmental stewardship. As Executive Director of the Trickster Cultural Center in Schaumburg, Illinois, she leads initiatives that center Indigenous arts, land-based education, youth leadership, and community partnerships. Her work emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural knowledge while applying it to contemporary environmental challenges.
Her talk, “Land, Responsibility, and Indigenous Stewardship,” will explore the deep and reciprocal relationship between Indigenous communities and the land. For many Indigenous peoples, land is not simply a resource but a relative; it is something to be cared for, respected, and sustained for future generations. Roxas will draw from her experiences in the Great Lakes region to discuss how Indigenous approaches to land stewardship and restoration are rooted in responsibility, and place-based knowledge.
The seminar will also invite attendees to consider how these perspectives can shape broader conversations around sustainability and environmental justice. By highlighting community-led environmental work and Indigenous ways of knowing, Roxas aims to offer insights that challenge conventional approaches to sustainability and encourage more holistic, inclusive solutions.
The event will take place on April 15, beginning with a social from 3:30–4:00 p.m. in the SES atrium (by the aquaponics), followed by the seminar from 4:00–5:00 p.m. in SES 111. As part of SES’s ongoing effort to connect students with leaders in the field, Roxas’s visit represents an opportunity to engage with ideas that are both deeply rooted in tradition and highly relevant to today’s environmental challenges.