The Commons will host mycologist, author Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian for the Kenneth A. Spencer Lecture

LAWRENCE — The Commons at the University of Kansas will welcome Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, author of “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature” (Spiegel & Grau: 2025), for the annual Kenneth A. Spencer Lecture. 

The free public event will take place at 7 p.m. April 7 at Liberty Hall in downtown Lawrence.

Ononiwu Kaishian is curator of mycology at the New York State Museum as well as a faculty member with the Bard Prison Initiative. She earned her doctorate in mycology from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. Her scientific research focuses on fungal taxonomy, diversity, evolution, symbiosis and ecology with a focus on less studied fungal groups such as insect-associated parasites. 

Her book, “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature,” is part memoir, part natural history lesson and part philosophical meditation. The book presents approaches to knowing and being in kinship with plants, animals and fungi that expand upon systems of classification and naming.

In her mycological research, Ononiwu Kaishian conducts biodiversity surveys around the world, seeking to better understand fungal population patterns, according to her author website. She also studies philosophy of science, queer ecology and queer theory, exploring how mycology and other scientific disciplines are situated in and informed by the sociopolitical landscape. Her article “The Science Underground: Mycology as a Queer Discipline” (Catalyst, 2020) bridges the relationship between queerness and mycology. 

Ononiwu Kaishian is a co-founder of the International Congress of Armenian Mycologists, which seeks to jointly protect Armenian sovereignty and biodiversity.

The Raven Book Store will offer books for sale at the Kenneth Spencer Lecture. Tickets are free and available online.

Two additional events with Ononiwu Kaishian will allow the community to experience ecosystems alongside her:

• Courtney King (Peoria), program and land stewardship manager for the USDA-NIFA Tribal College Equity Grant at Haskell Indian Nations University and graduate student in KU geography & atmospheric science, will lead a tour at Haskell Wetlands along with Ononiwu Kaishian. That event will take place at 3 p.m. April 7.
• Guests have an opportunity to participate in a Spring Ephemerals Walk with Ononiwu Kaishian and Sheena Parsons, KU Field Station manager, at the Rice Woodland Trail at Baldwin Woods. That event will begin at 9:30 a.m. April 8.

Both events have limited capacity. Those interested in attending the event at Haskell Wetlands or the event at Baldwin Woods should register by emailing thecommons@ku.edu and indicating which event they intend to attend.

About the Kenneth Spencer Lecture

The Kenneth Spencer Lecture, hosted by The Commons, is an endowed lecture dedicated to bringing leading thinkers across disciplines and ways of knowing to address the KU and regional communities. In recent years, the lecture series has featured writer/historian Rebecca Solnit, poet/scholar/artist Eve Ewing, activist/writer Jose Antonio Vargas, author/illustrator/screenwriter Jonny Sun, writer/scientist/enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Robin Wall Kimmerer and others.