Adult Lecture Series

Jane Austen lived in a material world, and her characters were material girls—navigating love, money, and social ambition through objects that speak volumes. This lecture unpacks how the things they owned—and the things they desired—expose the deeper currents in Jane Austen’s fiction.

Dr. Zan Cammack is the co-host of The Thing About Austen, a podcast that explores the hidden meanings behind the objects in Jane Austen’s novels, unpacking the cultural weight of everything from brooches to banknotes. She teaches in the English and Literature Department at Utah Valley University, where her work centers on British and Irish literature, particularly the ways objects help tell stories about identity, class, and social change. With wit, insight, and a deep love for Austen’s sharp social commentary, Cammack will invite you to look beyond the romance and discover how Austen’s material world shape emotional and social lives.

A volcano erupts in Indonesia in 1815, and a year later, Mary Shelley writes Frankenstein. Discover how climate chaos helped spark one of literature’s most enduring monsters.

Dr. Daniel Horns is a Professor of Geology and Dean of the College of Science at Utah Valley University. As Dean, Horns is committed to creating inclusive pathways for students of all backgrounds to engage in the sciences and succeed. In his teaching and research, Horns highlights the profound connection between Earth’s geologic forces and human history, how civilizations depend on the Earth’s resources, and how natural hazards like volcanoes and earthquakes shape the course of societies. With a passion for science communication, Horns brings the dramatic story of Tambora’s eruption and Mary Shelley’s creation to life, inviting us to see geology not just as rock and ash, but as a catalyst for imagination, fear, and myth.