Chippewa Valley Times

Mary Hankins will present “International Friendship Cultivated Here” from 12:30-1:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 in the Blue Hills Lecture Hall in Ritzinger Hall. The presentation will also be livestreamed at ricelaketv.com.

Hankins is the current president of the local sister city organization, the Rice Lake International Friendship Association. She will discuss the 25-year history and significance of the Japanese Garden on the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County campus. An informal reception in the aptly named “Yuujo No Niew” (Friendship Garden) will immediately follow the presentation. Light refreshments will be provided.

Hankins is a retired senior lecturer at UW-Eau Claire – Barron County. She has taught English as a second language for 40 years, both in the U.S. and overseas, and embraces any opportunity to reach out, communicate across different languages and cultures, and make new friends.

The Thursdays at the U weekly series is free and open to the public thanks to support from the UW-Eau Claire – Barron County Foundation. Neither seating reservations nor parking permits are needed for in-person attendees.

Although in-person attendance is encouraged, most talks in the series are livestreamed. They are also archived and can be watched later on the Thursdays at the U webpage.

The next lecture in the series will be on Sept. 12, with Dr. Scott Hebbring presenting “Pharmacogenomics: Genes Influence our Medication.”

For more information, contact Laura Holden at 715-788-6207 or holdenlk@uwec.edu.