The Engaged Learning Group on the relationships between humans and aniamls is approved for fall 2010. Freshmen may sign up during registration this summer.

Along with Heidi Marcum and Lynne Baker I submitted a proposal to Baylor University for an engaged learning group for new freshmen.  The topic is the relationship of humans with animals.  We are very excited about this student oriented project, which will provide seminars, and service projects for students who enjoy animals, both domestic and wild.

Heidi Marcum and I attended a meeting on women’s leadership and US energy policy and development in New Orleans, LA.  The women leading the discussion included two US senators, university based researchers, and executives from energy producing corporations. One of the most interesting topics was the development of new natural gas resources, which will require large volumes of water.  A second top issue was climate change and sea level rise, a major concern in Louisiana.

The capstone course has been getting real environmental planning experience by mapping riparian buffer zones and distributing information on the survey of public interest conducted in early October 2008.

My two week visit to Vermont Law School included participation in a course on Ocean and Coastal Law and a chance to expand the Vermont portion of the Appalachian Trail study.  This was the first time I had ever taken a law school class and the opportunity will assist in advising pre-law students.

The field course returned safely from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The class visited Alum Cave, Clingman’s Dome and Cades Cove.  Students took overnight trips to the spruce-fir forest and stayed in shelters on Mt. LeConte and at Ice Water Springs.  The class also biked the Viriginia Creeper Trail, while sampling trail conditions and chlorophyll levels in plants.  The group cooked together and make great grilled dishes.  The classes studied forest ecology and trail and road ecology.

Early this summer the Applied Forest Ecology course will be taught in the field with the help of Song Gao.  We plan to camp and stay in cabins and will visit Big Thicket, long leaf pine stands and a variety of forests and heaths in the Great Smoky Mountains and other areas of the Southern Appalachians.  The course will offer many opportunities for hiking, as well for exploring different forest ecosystem types.

The Coastal Zone Management course is offering two field trips.  The first is to Sea Center, Brazosport, and to Brazos Bend State Park to view the hatchery, coastal developments, and management of wetlands. The second will camp on Galveston Island and will view the NOAA sea turtle research facility, coastal dune and marsh restoration, and the famous seawall and jetties.

Vermont Law School has offered me support to attend a summer environmental law course as part of their Law and Policy Scholarship program. The application to the program is by invitation and admission is based on resume and a formal application.  I hope to take a course in marine or water law to improve my background in these areas.  The program is for adminstrators of environmental educational programs at the university level.  Two weeks in Vermont with some of the best environmental law faculty in the country should both improve my teaching and give me better background for advising pre-environmental law and pre-environmental policy students.