May 7-8, Thursday and Friday -- Davis-based science-fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson and tomato-harvester historian Emmett Fiske will be among the speakers at a two-day conference exploring the many ways that the University of California system has enriched environmental understanding through the arts, literature, social sciences and law over the past century. The conference will also include a photo exhibit and performance that documents the struggles of women leaders for environmental justice in the Central Valley.

"California, the University and the Environment," begins at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7, and runs until 8 p.m. Friday, May 8, at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center on the UC Davis campus. It is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is encouraged. To register or for more information, go to http://environmentalhumanities.ucdavis.edu/.

The conference is sponsored by the UC Davis Humanities Institute, the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis, EPA Air Quality Center at UC Davis and faculty partners from UC Merced, with a grant from the UC Office of the President.