Keith Stokes speaks at the Westerly Public Library on Saturday.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

URI Honors Colloquium: The University of Rhode Island’s annual fall Honors Colloquium meets Tuesday nights at 7:30 in Edwards Auditorium, on Upper College Road, Kingston.

The colloquium, with a theme of “People and Planet: Global Environmental Change,” will explore human-caused global change, its consequences and potential responses through a series of lectures, films, exhibits and a cabaret, with weekly events through Dec. 9. Coming lectures include:

“Impact of Global Environmental Change on Evolution,” Oct. 14; “Geoengineering Solutions to the Greenhouse Problem,” Oct. 21; “Astonishing Solutions,” Oct. 28; “California Action on Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change,” Nov. 12; “Human Effects on the Ocean and its Ecosystems,” Nov. 18; and “Solutions to the Global Carbon and Climate Problem,” Dec. 2. Each will begin at 7:30 p.m.

The colloquium will culminate Dec. 9 with “It’s a Shore Thing: A Coastal Cabaret,” a musical look at environmental change, at 7:30 p.m. in Edwards Auditorium. For information, call 874-2381.

Forensic science series: Lectures in the University of Rhode Island’s Forensic Science Seminar Series are scheduled for Fridays from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in room 124 of Pastore Hall. They include:

Today, Elizabeth LaPosata, retired Rhode Island medical examiner, “Pathology in the Public Interest”; Oct. 17, Gil Sapir, forensic consultant and attorney, “The Expert Witness”; Oct. 24, Neal Langerman, advanced safety consultant, “Chemical Investigations: Mundane to the Insane”; Oct. 31, Robin Cotton, director of biomedical forensic science at Boston University, “DNA Analysis”; Nov. 7, Tom Thurman, a professor at Eastern Kentucky University, “Explosive Incidents”; Nov. 14, David Smith, executive director of Rhode Island Emergency Management, “Mass Disaster, Incident Command”; Nov. 21, Anthony Amore, director of security for Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, “Art Theft”; and Dec. 5, Donna Brandelli, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of Scientific Services, “Multidisciplined Approach to Crime Scene Investigation.”

Admission to each is free.

African-American series: As part of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities month-long “Freedom Festival,” the Westerly Public Library, 44 Broad St., Westerly, will host a series of lectures on the life of free African Americans in Rhode Island, Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.

Presenters will include Joanne Pope Melish, “William J. Brown and Black Providence Before the Civil War”; Robert Cvornyek, “Black Waiters and Cuban Colored Giants: Race and Baseball in Westerly”; Keith Stokes, “African-American Heritage in Newport from 1720 to 1920”; Michael Bell, “New Guinea and the Negro Elections in Pawtuxet Village”; and Jane Lancaster, “Free, Gifted, and Black: Some Rhode Island African-American Women.” Admission is free.

Adult education classes: The Education Exchange, in the Oliver Stedman Government Center, Route 1, Wakefield, offers high school equivalency programs, GED, External diploma, distance learning, adult basic education, English for speakers of other languages, computer certifications, teacher aid certification, testing (ParaPro), Microsoft computer classes and workforce training. For information, call 789-0576.

Adult classes: The North Kingstown Art Council offers ongoing adult classes, including stained glass, journal keeping, poetry, fiction, calligraphy, basketry, photography, parenting, drawing and power point.

For information or to register, call 294-3331, ext. 241.