在 明星系列, Professor of English Erin Murphy and Associate Professor of English Laura Rotunno invite faculty members to share their experiences in a lunch-hour lecture. 今年秋季的第一个节目是丽莎·艾米丽(丽莎Emili)主持的, associate professor of physical geography and 环境研究, 环境研究项目的联合协调员, 及可持续发展协调员. R&T editor Therese Boyd sat down with Emili to hear about her recent talk.
TB: 是什么让你决定做STAR系列?
LE: 艾琳(墨菲)邀请了我. 他们试图从不同学科聘请教员. What’s woven through STAR is “how do we use our teaching and research to inform each other?” [As an instructor] you already come about it from a disciplinary standpoint. I wanted to use it as an opportunity to educate people about the Environmental Studies program and to market the idea that Environmental Studies is interdisciplinary in nature, 从课程的角度来看. [The 明星系列 is] just another way of outreach and having a different audience for me to get on my soapbox about how great the program is.
TB: So are you saying that some people don’t have the full picture when it comes to the Environmental Studies program? It’s more than just “how do we get clean water and clean air.“很多教师都是跨学科授课，不是吗?
LE: Brian Black [division head and professor of history and 环境研究] teaches about environmental history, Nicholas Rowland [associate professor of sociology and 环境研究] might have students studying whether people will pay more for organics. And the way I teach my students, we are always talking about current events. There is just something unique about the program; Environmental Studies students get a very diverse and holistic education. And it’s hard to separate out teaching from research—in 环境研究 they really are overlapping and combined.
TB: Why would a student choose the Environmental Studies program?
LE: There is some connection to the environment that starts you on the path. 这转化为一种激情. Maybe it’s a chemical spill, maybe it’s learning about Erin Brockovich. 我的东西是地方 ... specifically Hamilton, Ontario, an urban area with suburban elements but threatened by urban issues. I grew up in the Red Hill Valley, the largest green space in that area. I grew up with the ability to literally go out my back door into nature. As I got older, 然后 I really got to study the issues, to understand those issues. 红山谷的红山溪被污染了. 这就是我的联系.
TB: 你演讲的题目是“走出去并付诸行动”!“这是什么意思??
LE: I have a firm belief in the “extended classroom,” whether it’s the 研讨会的森林或者在校园里辨认树木，或者更长的实地考察. Each one of those things provides opportunities for learning by doing. We learn about fossils, 然后 we go out and find those fossils. 一天旅行, 洞穴探险, learning how what we do impacts the Chesapeake Bay—those are things where we’ve learned specifically.
TB: Sounds like your classes have a lot of fun, even with the work.
LE: 作为一名学生，我从这些旅行中受益匪浅. 这种经历通过过夜旅行建立了同志情谊, 乘坐长途汽车, and even the time spent together when the bus has broken down. Something unique to Environmental Studies is they move together, 一群学生, and there’s this overlapping of the professors that they have. They also benefit from professors and friends and the opportunities that develop because of that.
TB: 那么学生们要做多少研究呢?
LE: We have so many students doing undergrad research, some with me. 也可以是独立学习. 它们不是临时项目，而是现实生活中的东西. 我说:“你必须完成这件事. 必须写进报告里.” When it’s time to present to the stakeholders, they go, I don’t. 两个学生, Tracie Cobb Irvin (Biology major with a minor in Environmental Studies) and Angela Spagnoli (Environmental Studies major), were part of an ongoing project to analyze stream water chemistry in three headwater streams (in Blair County) of the Chesapeake Bay. They just presented a poster titled “Sub-watershed nutrient data collection in the Juniata River watershed” at the PennTec 2016 conference, which is the annual meeting for the 宾西法尼亚 Water Environment Association (PWEA).
TB: So what you’re saying is that Environmental Studies students learn both in the classroom and out, 使自己和环境受益, 这对每个人都有帮助, 正确的?
LE: Our research is about community and what community we fit in and how we can make positive differences. 我们班参观了 最后44农场 在阿尔图纳测试该物业的水质. We went out there and took samples, using it as a living laboratory. We continue to do what I call the greater good, fostering civic engagement. 公民参与不只是走出去做而已, 不仅仅是研究, 但也要问我们能做些什么来回报? 作为回报的一部分, a group of students did a crowdfunding to build a permanent fire pit in the 研讨会的森林. And so many of our alumni participate in our alumni mentoring program.
TB: 环境研究专业的学生, 然后, as you said at the beginning of your presentation: “Learning is not a spectator sport!”
