BARNARD COLLEGE IS LEADING DEVELOPMENT OF HUDSON RIVER SUMMER COURSE FOR NEW YORK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Stephanie Pfirman |
Barnard College is leading the 36 members of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities in developing a college-level field course to be offered in the summer of 2006 focused on the Hudson River and its remarkable natural environment, history and culture.
The project is supported by a $76,000 grant to Barnard from the Teagle Foundation ( www.teaglefoundation.org ) and funds from the Rivers and Estuaries Center. Professor Stephanie Pfirman, chair of Barnard's Environmental Science Department, is leading the project, joined by John Cronin, former Riverkeeper and managing director of the Rivers and Estuaries Center.
Faculty members and researchers from the colleges, universities , and institutions who have volunteered to pilot the program this summer, will meet this month aboard the R/V Seawolf, a research ship operated by the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The group will talk about the goals and direction of the course, which will draw on geology, ecology, geography, art history, anthropology, history, economics, and engineering. "The Hudson River is an extraordinary natural environment that is rich in cultural and environmental significance," said Pfirman. "Our goal is to reveal this remarkable territory to students at our colleges and universities." Next summer the course will be offered to 30 undergraduates as a 5-week interdisciplinary and interinstitutional summer field program.
The project addresses two important challenges: developing effective course content across disciplines and institutions, and implementing state-of-the-art pedagogy. Professor Lisa Son of Barnard's Psychology Department, will train faculty in ways to incorporate student-centered learning strategies based upon recent research in cognitive learning science. Program coordinator and scientist, Tim Kenna, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, brings to the project his own research on Hudson River sediments as well as his experience teaching on board a sailing vessel for the Woods Hole SEA Semester.
The Teagle Foundation was established in 1944 by Walter C. Teagle longtime president and later chairman of the board of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), now Exxon Mobil Corporation. Its assets derive from gifts and bequests from Mr. Teagle, his wife, Rowena Lee Teagle, and their son Walter C. Teagle, Jr.
In addition to Barnard , participating institutions include the following: Bard College , Colgate University , College of Mount Saint Vincent, Darrin Freshwater Institute, Fordham University, Hamilton College , Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Manhattan College , Marist College, NASA-Goddard Institute of Space Studies, Pace University , Polytechnic University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rivers and Estuaries Center, Riverside Park Fund, Sarah Lawrence College, SUNY-Ulster, The College of New Rochelle, The College of Saint Rose, Vassar College.
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