River Summer, a Barnard-Led Faculty Development Program, Receives Support from the Mellon Foundation
River Summer, an innovative faculty development program, has received support from the Mellon Foundation. Barnard is leading the 45 members of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities in developing the program, in which professors and researchers across disciplines travel together for a month on a research vessel studying the Hudson River. Drawing on geology, ecology, geography, art history, anthropology, history, economics, and engineering, the program was piloted in 2005 as a precursor to an interdisciplinary student-level course. But the response to the program as faculty-development was so high that it will continue in that vein the next two years.
Professor Stephanie Pfirman, chair of Barnard's Environmental Science Department, is leading the project, joined by Tim Kenna of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, and John Cronin, former Riverkeeper and managing director of the Rivers and Estuaries Center and Scholar in Residence at Pace University. The program takes place aboard the R/V Seawolf, a research ship operated by the State University of New York at Stony Brook and The School of Environmental Science and Forestry's Adirondack Ecological Center.
"Faculty felt a sense of renewal when they realized how much they could learn from each other," Pfirman says of last year's program. "They came back and changed both what and how they taught. The importance of teaching the teachers is tremendous. We send students to study abroad and it's a transformative experience. It turns out that the same is true for faculty."
For example, Pfirman herself has incorporated new elements into her courses as a result of River Summer. Having spent time on board the research ship with a writing professor from Bard, she now incorporates different writing assignments into her course First Year Seminar course "Exploring the Poles."
"I thought about my writing differently when I was asked to reflect on it, and now I have students write reflections as well. It makes a huge difference for them to become conscious of how their writing evolves along with their thinking," she says.
Pfirman added that, unlike faculty development programs that bring together scholars from around the country, River Summer has the added benefit that all the participants are located in the Hudson Valley.
"It's easy to continue the conversation and get reinforcement in implementing changes from someone who is local," she says.
"Spending a month in the landscape with experts exploring the science, history, culture, etc. of the region was a transformative experience," says Tim Kenna. "Seeing the connections between disciplines and being in a supportive learning environment not only allowed me to learn about many things of which I only had a passing knowledge, but also added context to my own work studying Hudson River Sediments."
"I am still feeling the effects and schoes of River Summer," he adds. "As a result of my participation, I changed the focus of a course that I teach at Barnard and have become involved in several interdisciplinary collaborations with other program participants.
In addition to Barnard, Environmental Consortium institutions eligible to participate in the program include: Bard College, Colgate University, Columbia University,
CUNY - Queens College,
Dominican College,
Fordham University,
Hamilton College,
Iona College,
Manhattan College,
Manhattanville College,
Marist College,
Marymount College of Fordham University,
Marymount Manhattan College,
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts,
Mercy College,
Mount Saint Mary College,
College of Mount Saint Vincent,
The College of New Rochelle,
Pace University,
Polytechnic University,
Ramapo College of New Jersey,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
The Sage Colleges, The College of Saint Rose,
Saint Thomas Aquinas College,
Sarah Lawrence College,
Siena College,
Skidmore College,
SUNY - Columbia-Greene Community College,
SUNY - Dutchess Community College,
SUNY - Maritime College,
SUNY - New Paltz,
SUNY - North Country Community College,
SUNY - Orange County Community College,
SUNY - Purchase College,
SUNY - Rockland Community College,
SUNY - Schenectady County Community College,
SUNY - Stony Brook,
SUNY - Ulster County Community College,
SUNY - University at Albany,
SUNY - Westchester Community College,
Union College,
Vassar College.
5.02.06
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