Duke University’s Dr. Ryan Emanuel was invited to the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus as part of the Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series’ 29th season. Gregory Anderson, Ph.D., who contributed to starting the Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series, spoke to the audience before Emanuel’s lecture at the Dodd Center for Human Rights in Storrs, Connecticut on Sept. 18, 2025. Helton told the audience that there were two co-chairs for the Teale Lecture Series’ planning committee for the first time in the history of the series. He then talked about his Lumbee background, which is an Indigenous American tribe originating in what’s now known as North Carolina. I was that professor.” Emanuel talked about how it was difficult for him to find ways to help his people as a professor and scientist.