Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World

Wednesday, 05 Feb 2025 at 5:30 pm – Sun Room, Memorial Union

Rae Wynn-Grant is a wildlife ecologist who researches how human activity influences the behavior of wild animals. As an active scientist, she spends long periods in the wilderness tracking and observing black and grizzly bears in the western United States, and African lions in rural Kenya and Tanzania. Her wildlife exploration and media work has taken her to six of seven continents and over 25 countries. A native Californian, Wynn-Grant attributes her interest in wildlife and conservation from the nature shows she watched on television as a child, and today she uses media to increase representation of Black scientists and explorers. Wynn-Grant received her BS in Environmental Studies from Emory University, her MS in Environmental Studies from Yale University, and her PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University. She is a faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Wynn-Grant envisions a near future where the outdoors is a safe, equitably accessible, and positively transformative space for all people. She is a scientist, conservationist, equity and justice advocate, and storyteller. Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant is the host of the PBS podcast, Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, which takes listeners deep into the heart of the world’s most remote jungles, savannas, tundras, mountains, and deserts with her as she studies wild animals in their natural habitats. She is also the Host of the NBC series, Wild Kingdom - a new version of the iconic wildlife show premiering Fall 2023. This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.Due to speaker request, this recording will not be available until 3 days after the lecture and will be on the Available Recordings site only for those with an ISU Net ID.

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Rae Wynn-Grant is a wildlife ecologist who researches how human activity influences the behavior of wild animals. As an active scientist, she spends long periods in the wilderness tracking and observing black and grizzly bears in the western United States, and African lions in rural Kenya and Tanzania. Her wildlife exploration and media work has taken her to six of seven continents and over 25 countries. A native Californian, Wynn-Grant attributes her interest in wildlife and conservation from the nature shows she watched on television as a child, and today she uses media to increase representation of Black scientists and explorers. Wynn-Grant received her BS in Environmental Studies from Emory University, her MS in Environmental Studies from Yale University, and her PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University. She is a faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Wynn-Grant envisions a near future where the outdoors is a safe, equitably accessible, and positively transformative space for all people. She is a scientist, conservationist, equity and justice advocate, and storyteller. Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant is the host of the PBS podcast, Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, which takes listeners deep into the heart of the world’s most remote jungles, savannas, tundras, mountains, and deserts with her as she studies wild animals in their natural habitats. She is also the Host of the NBC series, Wild Kingdom - a new version of the iconic wildlife show premiering Fall 2023. This event is part of a Women’s and Gender Studies Lecture Series funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities Grant, which was awarded to Dr. Winfrey and the WGS program in the fall of 2023.Due to speaker request, this recording will not be available until 3 days after the lecture and will be on the Available Recordings site only for those with an ISU Net ID.