In partnership with the Chemistry Department and the Center for Intercultural Learning and Inclusion, with funding from the Barbara J Stahl Fellow Grant, DIIF Grant and the Gregory J Grappone Humanities Institute, the Community Cinema Series highlights Diversity and Inclusion in Stem with this free screening.

Secret Agents of the Underground Railroad is a revealing scientific exploration of how a Niagara Falls hotel, The Cataract House, became the focal point for a 19th century North American Black Resistance movement. Host Anthony Morgan meets a team of archaeologists who are working to recover parts of the hotel's foundation. In doing so, they unearth stories about how the hotel's head waiter, John Morrison, and his seemingly innocuous wait staff covertly orchestrated Freedom Seekers' escapes to freedom. What’s true of every archaeological dig is that below the surface, there is always more than meets the eye; and the dig at the once-renowned Cataract House is no exception

Following the screening, an engaging panel Q&A, moderated by Professor Mary Kate Donais will feature key members of the documentary team.

Panel guests:

• Saladin Allah, Director of Community Engagement at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center
• Dr. Douglas Perrelli, Director of Archaeological Survey, SUNY Buffalo

Congressman Dean Phillips joins the Institute as part of our American Stage Series. Phillips formally launched his presidential campaign on Fri., Oct. 27 and filed to run in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary. 

Dean Phillips is the Representative for Minnesota's Third Congressional District in Congress. In 2018 Phillips unseated five-term Republican Erik Paulsen - the first time in almost six decades that a Republican didn't carry that district. He has won re-election twice and, in 2022, by his widest margin — 59.6% to Republican challenger Tom Weiler's 40.4%.

Dean is Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Middle East, Northern Africa, and Central Asia Subcommittee.

The nonpartisan Lugar Center ranks Dean as the 13th most bipartisan out of 435 Members of Congress. He has been named a Fiscal Hero by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and was recognized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with the Jefferson-Hamilton Award for Bipartisanship in the 116th and 117th Congress.

Free and open to the public with advance registration.

Please join us for this special opportunity to hear from Francis X. Suarez, Mayor of Miami.  

Francis X. Suarez is the 43rd Mayor of Miami. First elected with a mandate of 86 percent and then re-elected with a mandate of nearly 79 percent, Mayor Suarez has championed the integration of climate adaptive policies, Web 3.0 technology, and a free-market approach to government. As the first Miami-born mayor, he is committed to building a Miami that lasts forever and that welcomes everyone.

Under his leadership, Miami has cut crime and cut taxes to one of their lowest points in over fifty years, spurring a broad-based economic expansion across Miami. Mayor Suarez has also pursued a package of affordable housing reforms—Miami For-Everyone—that leverages federal opportunity zones with the activation of underutilized land to the supply and overall access to affordable housing for working people and communities of color.  

Complimentary Breakfast.  This event is free and open to the public with advance registration.