Ready for some in-depth discussion about topical issues? The New College Foundation’s 2021–2022 season of New Topics features regional and national speakers from a broad range of disciplines exploring a world of ideas. The series runs October through April and will be presented via the Zoom platform for the first two events. A decision on whether to hold the subsequent lectures in person will be made in December.

Each lecture will be presented at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10; registration is required and can be made at ncf.edu/new-topics or by calling the New College events hotline at 941-487-4888. Reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance to allow for processing and sending of a receipt email with the Zoom link. The series is sponsored, in part, by Sarasota Magazine and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

New Topics 2021–2022 Speakers

Thursday, October 21

From Competitors to Bromance: Using Science to Understand Male Gorilla Social Behavior

With Dr. Austin Leeds

Western lowland gorillas are familiar—we see them in zoos across the country, but we know very little about them in the wild. Particularly, we know almost nothing about how males form and maintain social relationships and bonds with other male gorillas. In this lecture, Dr. Leeds will discuss why male gorilla behavior is so fascinating while diving into two novel studies that have helped unravel the mysteries of male gorilla behavior and social relationships. Dr. Leeds looks forward to sharing how we can use these findings to provide optimal welfare for gorillas in zoos and how this information improves our understanding of their natural history in the wild.

Dr. Austin Leeds earned his PhD in biology from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the behavior and social dynamics of western lowland gorillas in zoos, particularly within all-male bachelor groups. While working toward his PhD, he was a research associate in the Conservation and Science Division of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, where he conducted animal behavior and welfare research across a variety of taxa and collaborated with NGOs in Rwanda and Uganda on conservation education and scientific capacity-building projects. He is now a research manager for Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment overseeing research focused on animal behavior and welfare at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Seas with Nemo and Friends.

Thursday, November 18

The Waterkeeper: A Watershed Approach to Environmental Advocacy

With Justin Bloom

From its beginnings as a ragtag group of commercial fishermen and environmental advocates to its current alliance of over 350 groups connected throughout the globe by the fight to ensure that all communities have access to drinkable, fishable, and swimmable waters, the Waterkeeper movement has developed an effective model of community-based environmental advocacy. Justin Bloom will talk about the Waterkeeper Alliance’s history and some of its key successes while sharing his experiences as a lawyer and environmental advocate working to protect communities from pollution and overdevelopment. He will also discuss some of the most pressing needs and challenges and share his thoughts about what is needed to protect waterways and the communities that rely on them.

Justin Bloom ’87 is the founder and the board vice-chair of Sarasota-based Suncoast Waterkeeper. He is an attorney with significant experience developing and directing programs and projects for environmental groups in addition to decades of legal practice focusing on environmental issues. Bloom also serves on the board of Tampa Bay Waterkeeper and Waterkeepers Florida, which represents 14 Waterkeeper organizations throughout the state. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Florida West Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council and has been a member of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program’s Citizens Advisory Committee for nearly a decade, currently serving as chair. Bloom graduated from New College of Florida in 1991 with a BA in environmental studies. He completed his law degree at Tulane University in 1996. Bloom’s legal practice over the past 25 years has focused on public interest environmental law, as well as toxic tort and class action pharmaceutical plaintiff’s litigation. During that time, he has worked on staff with Hudson Riverkeeper as an investigator, staff attorney, and project manager and with Waterkeeper Alliance as a director. Bloom lives in Sarasota with his wife and two children.

Tuesday, January 18

A Queer Zionism: Jessie Sampter and the Paradoxes of Jewish Nationalism

With Sarah Imhoff

The young, unmarried Jessie Sampter embraced a Judaism her parents had rejected, bought a trousseau, drolly declared herself “married to Palestine,” and moved there in 1918. Jessie Sampter’s own life and body hardly matched typical Zionist ideals: while Zionism celebrated the strong and healthy body, Sampter spoke of herself as “crippled” from polio and plagued by sickness her whole life; while Zionism applauded reproductive (women’s) bodies, Sampter never married or bore children—in fact, she wrote of homoerotic longings and had same-sex relationships we would consider queer. How did a queer, “crippled” woman become a leading voice of American Zionism, and why has history largely overlooked her?

Sarah Imhoff, author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism, is an associate professor in the Borns Jewish Studies Program and Religious Studies Department at Indiana University Bloomington.

Thursday, February 10

Rescuing the Planet: The Race We Can Win to Save a Million Species

With Tony Hiss

The earth faces two environmental emergencies brought about by human actions. The reality of the climate crisis became inescapable for many people during the unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts in the summer of 2021. Though equally grave, the second crisis, the extinctions crisis—which threatens the lives of a million species of plants and animals—has remained more hidden and out of the headlines. Fortunately, there is some hopeful news: the extinctions crisis has a solution, and in 2022 the whole world will assemble to face this growing calamity.

“Half Earth” is the shorthand name for what needs to be done. The science is clear: most species can survive if at least half their original habitat is protected over the next 30 years, and so the goal is 50 x 50—protect half the earth by 2050. In May 2022, 196 countries will meet in China to take the first big step: 30 x 30, 30 percent by 2030.

Tony Hiss's beautifully illustrated talk, based on his book Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth, published to excellent reviews in 2021, presents the problem, the solution, and his own further reasons for optimism. Traveling around North America from Canada to Mexico, from the Rockies to Florida, he met with extraordinary people and groups that, years before the China meeting, were already working tirelessly and inventively to save our continent's beloved landscapes and iconic species. Hiss also shares information about the many ways anyone can join this movement.

Tony Hiss is the author of 15 books, including the award-winning The Experience of Place. He was a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine for 30 years and a visiting scholar at New York University for 25 years. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Lois Metzger.

Thursday, March 10

The Hollywood Sell: Entertainment Marketing in a Changing World

With Smitty Smith and Jackson George

Join Smitty Smith ’70 and Jackson George ’95 as they discuss Hollywood and the evolution of entertainment marketing in our rapidly changing world. Smith, a movie industry veteran and CEO of the creative agency InSync Plus, and George, a creative advertising executive with Disney, will take you behind the scenes to understand how Hollywood develops movies and markets their product to the consumer. With witty stories and insights, Smith and George, will also explore how Hollywood is changing and what influence rapidly advancing technologies are having on the marketing and distribution of movies.

Thursday, April 21

TBA

About New College of Florida

Founded in Sarasota, Florida, in 1960, New College of Florida is a top-ranked public liberal arts college and the state’s Honors College of Florida. New College prepares intellectually curious students for lives of great achievement by providing a highly individualized education that integrates academic rigor with career-building experiences. New College offers 45 undergraduate majors in arts, humanities, and sciences; a master’s degree program in applied data science; and certificates in technology, finance, and business skills.