October 19, 2026
Additional Glassman Lecture-related events set
SIU faculty, staff and students have an opportunity to discuss the future and the world’s biggest challenges with two more events in connection with the Michael and Nancy Glassman Lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
The programs continue to examine the relevance of the ideas of noted futurist, architect, designer and former SIU Carbondale faculty member R. Buckminster Fuller. He is often considered the father of the modern sustainability movement.
From noon to 2 p.m. on Oct. 20, Bucky’s Haven at Campus Lake is hosting “Chili, Cosmic Surfing and Conversation.” Come for chili, experience cosmic surfing inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s ideas and led by Steve Gariepy, an experimental education specialist at the STEM Education Research Center. Artist Ben Lowder will share his work and vision behind Bucky’s Haven installation. Glassman Lecture presenters Stuart Cowan, the executive director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI), and Sara Blenkhorn, BFI director of innovation, will also be there.
Cowan and Blenkhorn will present the Glassman Lecture, “Designing Futures that Flourish: A Special Evening with the Buckminster Fuller Institute at SIU.” The lecture and reception is from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 20 in Morris Library’s John C. Guyon Auditorium.
Cowan and Blenkhorn will also participate in a “Your Questions. Their Experience” small group conversation from 11 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Morris Library’s Honors Lounge, Room 180. This is an opportunity to bring questions, share ideas or solutions you're working on, and exchange perspectives with Cowan and Blenkhorn. A pizza lunch will be served at noon.