Skip to content
The Hub
Popular Searches
Photo of a lecturer pointing at a projection at the front of the classroom full of attendees.

Lectures at Sheridan College

Free & Open to the Public

Home | Lectures
Eric Richards, Director of bands and Jazz Studies

Thickman Faculty Lecture Series

Musical Journeys: Sounds Across Borders

Thursday, Mar. 11, 6:00 pm – Kinnison Hall. Free.

With Dr. Eric Richards, Music Faculty

  • Self-described “contemporary American eclectic” composer-arranger will explore the background, creative processes and performances of two recent works with international reach:
  • Samba For Sensei—a Brazilian-influenced composition
  • The Crucible—a concert work for jazz orchestra commissioned by the Royal Air Force.
  • An engaging artist talk on creativity, collaboration, and contemporary composition.

Biography:

Dr. Eric Richards is the Director of Bands and Jazz Studies at Sheridan College where he serves as Music Director of the SC Symphony Band, Jazz Ensemble, Jazztet, Concert Brass Ensemble, Trombone Choir, and teaches applied brass, composition, History of Jazz, Keyboard Theory, Music Fundamentals. He also serves as the Music Director and Lead Trombone of the Whitney Center Jazz Orchestra, Sheridan College’s professional big band-in-residence.

From 2008 – 2015, he served as tenured Associate Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies in the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he led the Composition Program. At UNL, he mentored first-year through doctoral students in applied composition (classical and jazz/vernacular styles), and organized and led the award-winning UNL Jazz Orchestra “2.0”, an innovative 21st Century jazz ensemble combining traditional big band instrumentation with strings, horn, and percussion. He is the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at UNL. Eric has led the Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming All State High School Jazz Ensembles as well as the Southern California Honor Jazz All-Stars in concert performance at the 2018 NAMM Convention in Anaheim.

His work as an educator is energized by his professional practice as a widely performed composer/arranger, conductor, and instrumentalist. Eric’s music has been heard on six continents in performances and recordings in major concert venues across North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and India.

Will Robinson Headshot

Science
Lecture
Series

Protecting Thailand’s Migrating Giant Honey Bees

Wednesday, Apr. 8, 7:00 pm – W153. Free.
Also available via Zoom.

With Will Robinson, Emeritus Biology Instructor at Casper College

Abstract: On sabbatical in 2009 in northwestern Thailand, Will Robinson witnessed a remarkable phenomenon that scientists had never seen: a place where numerous groups (“bivouacs”) of giant honeybees gather simultaneously during long migrations. The site is an orchard at an agricultural research station on the Pai River. Dozens of colonies use the stopover site every fall. Will and his wife, Maria Katherman, returned three more autumns to study the bees.

In addition to giant honeybees, three other honeybee species (genus Apis) native to Thailand utilize the same location for nesting, feeding and defense against predators.
This unique stopover site is clearly worthy of recognition and protection well into the future. Consulting with Worldwide Fund for Nature International (WWF) officials in the U.S. and Thailand, Will and Maria agreed that a sensible beginning point was to erect sturdy interpretive nature signs at the site. In 2023, with financial aid from WWF and much local assistance, the couple managed the construction and placement of signs, which highlight the importance of the site for all four Apis species.

Biosketch: Will Robinson received a Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University in 1980, specializing in the study of honeybees. Through the 1980’s he worked overseas on apiculture and crop pollination problems as a consultant and specialist for agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. and the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 1988 he conducted a congressionally mandated study documenting the value of honey bees to agriculture in the U.S.

In 1991 he began teaching at Casper College, retiring in 2020. He taught a variety of biology-related courses for CC and for the University of Wyoming. On sabbatical in fall, 2009, Robinson began studies in Mae Hong Son, Thailand, on the behavior of three species of honeybees. He returned to Mae Hong Son in the autumns of 2010, 2016 and 2023 to focus on the migratory behavior of giant honeybees.

Will lives on a ranch along the North Platte River with his wife, Maria Katherman, plus dogs, cats, chickens, horses, and of course, honeybees.

Past Lectures