In 2012, Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo and Fairfield University began a unique partnership of service, education, research and conservation. While community-engaged learning typically centers around human communities, many animal species currently represented in zoos around the world can also be defined as communities in need in that these species have experienced ongoing exploitation, marginalization and subjugation in wild on a massive global scale. RIZE is a community-engaged learning program that not only benefits undergraduate students with valuable research experience and exposure to animal biology, but also benefits the zoo and their animals in providing the valuable information needed to promote conservation and the protection and care of wildlife.

This exhibit, curated by Dr. Ashley Byun, Associate Professor of Biology at Fairfield University, brings together research posters and artwork created by current and former students as well as specimens on loan from CT's Beardsley Zoo (Bridgeport).

Weaving Biblical Stories Through Women’s Work: Textile Exegesis is an interpretative art exhibit by Hebrew Bible scholar and award-winning artist, Vivienne Rowett. Ms Rowett’s work captures the beauty and poetry of Biblical texts while also offering reflections on social justice, theology, trauma, and disability. She writes, “Through my textile work, I find my voice, and I challenge the notion of women’s work being valueless. Women do all these lovely things, and oftentimes, the projects end up under the bed, hidden, as “stuff” that is not really wanted.” Her work includes “A Dress for Sarah, A Dress for Hagar,” a series of Medieval Psalms Pockets, and dolls of Job and Qoheleth.

Vivienne Rowett will give a lecture on Monday, February 27, 2023 in the Barone Campus Center Oakroom about the exhibit sponsored by the Humanities Institute and the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies and co-sponsored by the departments of Women Gender & Sexuality Studies, Visual & Performing Arts, and Religious Studies.

Weaving Biblical Stories Through Women’s Work: Textile Exegesis was curated by Dr. Karen Langton, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University. The purpose of the exhibition, public lecture and two teaching sessions is to offer students, faculty, and the community a new way into the text, one that engages academic approach while honoring the human experience.