一周中的任何一天, if you’re looking for where Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology Woodward “Woody” Bousquet, Ph.D., 教课程, 你很有可能需要重新考虑你对“学习空间”的定义.“那是因为. Bousquet — and his students — may be found wading knee-deep in Abrams Creek collecting aquatic samples, examining rock formations and identifying native trees at the Shenandoah River Campus at Cool Spring Battlefield or assessing water quality in Cedar Creek.
现在是第25个年头, Shenandoah University’s environmental studies program uses the abundant outdoor resources of the Northern Shenandoah Valley as an interconnected learning laboratory for exploring important issues, 方法和概念. 学生们经常和他们的教授并肩工作, 进行研究, publishing results and developing educational materials that help individuals and communities to better understand the natural world. Graduates leave Shenandoah ready to enter the workforce as environmental scientists or environmental educators in the government, 保护组织或对环境问题感兴趣的私人公司.
早期开始
Shenandoah University’s environmental studies program launched in 1991 under the leadership of Robert Bardwell, Ph.D.他在1992年去世前一直担任生物学项目主席和教员. 这个项目一开始是生物学双学位, 它后来在1994年春天成为一个独立的专业.
Dr. Bousquet, 谁在1993年加入学院担任环境研究和生物学副教授, 领导环境研究项目超过20年. Together he and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Geography Joshua Kincaid, Ph.D., 谁是2008年加入的, train and inspire students to look critically at environmental issues and to question how society works.
“Reaching this milestone of 25 years is such a tribute to the leadership and dedication of our faculty,艺术学院院长说 & 科学杰弗里·科克博士.D. “Professors Woody Bousquet and Josh Kincaid continue to broaden and enhance a program that offers students a truly hands-on academic experience that prepares them for a wide array of possible career paths. 它也以如此关键的方式服务于我们的社区和地区.”
How many peer institutions can claim their environmental studies undergraduates’ efforts shaped a National Park’s master plan or led a city to establish its first nature preserve?” ——伍迪·博斯克博士.D.
项目的独特之处
住在艺术学院 & 科学, 这个跨学科的项目借鉴了自然科学的课程, the social sciences and the humanities to prepare students as practitioners able to investigate and address complex environmental problems. 研究是课程中如此重要的组成部分, 据博斯克说, 许多机构将研究机会限制在少数学术表现最好的人身上. 在谢南多厄绝对不是这种情况.
“All our undergraduates have the chance to develop research skills and list their experiences on their resumes and in graduate school applications,他说. “学生 who are particularly interested and capable can find even further opportunities for research.”
Hands-on, career-related service-learning experiences provide an additional benefit to the program.
“大多数环境研究项目提供短期服务学习, while many of Shenandoah’s environment-related service projects are much more substantive and extensive,”博斯克说. “我们在几门课程中建立了扩展服务学习项目, 例如ES 340(环境教育)和ES 419(社区) & 区域研究). 通过与政府机构和公民团体合作, 我们的项目解决了明确确定的需求, 其影响超出了一个学期的持续时间,他说. “How many peer institutions can claim their environmental studies undergraduates’ efforts shaped a National Park’s master plan or led a city to establish its first nature preserve? 而将服务学习纳入我们的课程是教师的想法, 这通常是一种意愿, 我们的学生渴望运用他们的知识, 创造不同的激情和能量让许多成就得以实现.”
几乎所有的环境研究项目都利用周围环境进行实地研究, but Shenandoah’s 195-acre Cool Spring River Campus is a dedicated place where students and faculty can roll up their sleeves and collaborate.
谢南多厄河校区为实地考察提供了广泛的机会, 生态修复与研究,”博斯克说. “我们也利用艾布拉姆斯河, rain gardens and native plantings on the main campus; several local parks; Winchester’s Abrams Creek and Shawnee Springs preserves; nearby Cedar and Opequon creeks; the Shenandoah River and places farther away. And while other institutions have curtailed field learning in the face of tightening budgets, having vehicles and funds available for student travel helps to make these opportunities possible.”
做出有意义的改变
Bousquet cites several examples where academic and hands-on research has made a difference locally and in the region. 例如:
- More than 20 environmental studies undergraduates presented their research at annual conferences of the Virginia Academy of Science.
- 温彻斯特市, the Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District and the Princeton Review’s green colleges guide recognized the university’s efforts in environmental stewardship, 可持续发展与本科教育.
- The Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association acknowledged students and faculty with its Grassroots Conservation Award in 2013.
“Perhaps the accomplishment with the most lasting effect on our community and region is the involvement of our students and faculty with the Abrams Creek Wetlands since 1997,”博斯克说.
位于距离主校区仅两英里的温彻斯特-弗雷德里克县线, 该遗址以罕见的沼泽栖息地为特色, 这里有20多种植物被列入弗吉尼亚州的珍稀植物名录.
澳门网上赌博平台环境研究学院的本科生和教师对湿地进行了调查, 向市民和决策者展示他们的发现, led field trips for children and adults and developed interpretive signs to help people appreciate the property’s significance. 这些努力促成了2003年艾布拉姆斯溪湿地保护区的落成. 这里是温彻斯特市第一个正式受保护的自然区域. 每一天, 风雨无阻, 数十名当地居民和游客来到湿地锻炼, 性质的研究, 家庭乐趣和灵感.”
学生, faculty and alumni of Shenandoah’s environmental studies program — where curiosity and science meet a passion for the outdoors — can be proud of how their work over 25 years has contributed to the science of discovery and to the day-to-day lives of so many others.