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PlaceMattersSP Lecture Series
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PlaceMattersSP & Florida Talks
Sea Level Rise and Heritage Sites in Florida
Uzi Baram, Professor Emeritus at New College of Florida
Thursday, February 26, 2026, 6 PM
New weather patterns, larger storms, and rising sea levels are challenging communities and transforming conventional thinking. Archaeologists document the shifting seascape’s destruction of archaeological and historical sites and offer long-term perspectives on human adaptation and maladaptation to environmental changes. This presentation is global in scope and includes Floridian archaeological perspectives.
After 25 years of teaching at New College of Florida and creating its Public Archaeology Lab, Uzi Baram continues to engage in community-based archaeology and heritage interpretation through his consulting firm UBHeritage. For over twenty years Dr. Baram has partnered with community organizations and engaged a wide range of individuals and groups in using archaeology as heritage to animate the past and to offer positive possibilities for the future.
PlaceMattersSP is presented by Preserve the ‘Burg and USF's Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, and the February program is funded in partnership with Florida Humanities as part of their Florida Talks program. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities.
Lecture takes place at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, located on the USFSP campus.
Campus Map Detail:
Purple Rectangles = Parking areas
Red Circled Building (POY) = Nelson Poynter Memorial Library
PlaceMattersSP
Harboring Resilience: the Past, Present, and Future of Bayboro Harbor
Oliver Laczko
Thursday, March 26, 2026, 6 PM
For over a century, Bayboro Harbor has fueled St. Pete’s growth and economy. But behind its concrete seawalls lies a fragile ecosystem — and a changing climate is pushing us to rethink how we protect our harbor and, by extension, our community. Join Oliver Laczko as he reveals the hidden history and environmental science of Bayboro Harbor, and makes the case for ecological restoration and resilience as key to our region’s future. Discover how restoring Bayboro Harbor can safeguard our city, strengthen Tampa Bay, and inspire action in the face of rising challenges in this interdisciplinary talk.
Oliver Laczko is a fourth year University of South Florida St. Petersburg Judy Genshaft Honors College Student majoring in Environmental Science and Policy, B.S., with minors in Biology and GIS. He serves as the Vice Chair for the Student Green Energy Fund, which directly involves students with sustainability initiatives and alternative energy projects that benefit the campus and the community. Utilizing USF's special collections as well as the archive at SPMOH, Laczko wrote his senior thesis on the human and environmental history of Bayboro Harbor.
Introduction by Dr. Catherine Wilkins, an interdisciplinary educator whose work explores how art, culture, and history shape the stories we tell about ourselves and the world we inhabit. As a faculty member in the Judy Genshaft Honors College at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus, she bridges academic research with community engagement.
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