Dr. Jelani Mahiri will be the guest speaker at this service. Jelani came to Bozeman in 2007 and has been here as a Visiting Professor since 2009. He has developed a strong community both in and outside the University and enjoys spending time with his son. A truly multifaceted individual, Jelani has a wide range of life experiences. His undergraduate degrees are in Physics and Spanish, and his PhD is in Sociocultural Anthropology. A worldwide traveler, he has learned to speak, read and write in Brazilian Portuguese. When beginning his graduate work, he worked with pre-eminent folklorist Professor Alan Dundes, who was also Jelani’s dissertation advisor before suddenly passing away in 2005. He is a photographer, has learned Afro-Cuban dance and taught salsa dancing, and has been learning to play Afro-Cuban percussion, mainly focused on congas. “It has primarily been self-study, though YouTube and the internet offers a lot of information and instruction from so many dedicated percussion teachers. Playing congas has led me to perform in musical bands in Bozeman and to compose my own music.” In the summers Jelani works in landscaping, which has led to his planting of at least 1,000 trees in Bozeman and throughout the Gallatin Valley.