WA S H I N G TO N A N D L E E U N I V E R S I T Y
The Environmental Studies Program N E W S F R O M T H E D E PA RTM E N T
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reetings from W&L, and a warm welcome to the Environmental Studies Program’s annual newsletter. It’s been a beautiful summer in Lexington, and we are excited to reach out, reconnect and update you on lots of exciting things happening on campus. This year, Environmental Studies will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first graduating class with ENV degree credentials from Washington and Lee. In the years since, the program has grown immensely. We now offer both a major and minor in environmental studies, with more than 20 students graduating from the program in 2019.
Thanks to a generous gift from the family of John Spencer ’13, the program now has an endowed directorship, and I am honored to be serving as the first John Kyle Spencer Director for Environmental Studies. We also welcomed new faculty and staff to the program this year, including our first full-time faculty appointment in Environmental Studies. Chelsea Fisher, an environmental anthropologist and archeologist, joins us this year as an assistant professor and will develop the program’s curriculum in the emerging field of environmental humanities. Debra Frein started in June as our program coordinator and will be working on a number of curricular and co-curricular initiatives that are in the works. Finally, Megan Hess, associate professor of accounting, who teaches sustainability
accounting in the Williams School, joined Environmental Studies as an affiliate faculty member. The program’s core and affiliate faculty now represent 10 different departments and offices around the university. This year we instituted completely new curricula for the major and minor. The core foundations in sciences, social sciences and humanities will be covered in a new series of required courses offered by ENVS, rather than from supporting departments. This creates a common experience for our students that we hope will lead to stronger connections within the program. The new major also allows students to focus their elective coursework around a specific topic or theme, including climate change, conservation biology, water
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Robert Humston and Wes Tetsworth ’10 take a break from fishing outside of Bend, Oregon, in 2018.
2018 Bates Memorial Lecture: Matt Strickler ’03, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources
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e kicked off the 20182019 academic year with Matt Strickler ’03, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, returning to his hometown of Lexington to present the annual Bates Memorial Lecture in Environmental Studies. Matt was an early graduate of the Environmental Studies Program and went on to graduate studies in public policy and marine science at The College of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science. After finishing his master’s degree, Matt was awarded the prestigious Knauss Marine Policy
Fellowship in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of International Affairs. He served as senior policy advisor to the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources before joining Gov. Ralph Northam’s cabinet in his current position. Matt’s lecture was titled, “A Critical Time for State Environmental Leadership” and he spoke in detail about the environmental challenges facing Virginia and the nation, as well as the efforts ongoing and upcoming to address them. Following his lecture, Matt answered several questions from local residents
about topics ranging from the Mountain Valley Pipeline to addressing water quality issues in our region. The tone of Matt’s lecture was both optimistic and pragmatic. The clear message was that there are challenges ahead, but opportunities as well. It was encouraging to hear of the efforts in place to address these challenges and exciting to see a W&L ENVS graduate leading up those efforts. This year’s Bates Memorial Lecture will bring Dr. Samina Raja (SUNY Buffalo) and Dr. Mahadev Bhat (FIU) to campus to discuss sustainable food systems.
During his return to W&L, Matt Strickler ’03 visited with students in Professor Jim Casey ’91’s Development Economics course to discuss the role of public policy in sustainable development.
SAVE THE DATE Earl Bates Memorial Lecture in Environmental Studies Oct. 2 • 7 p.m. Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons Our annual Earl Bates Memorial Lecture in Environmental Studies will focus on sustainable food systems. Our new assistant professor, Chelsea Fisher, will moderate the panel discussion. Our two guest panelists will be Mahadev Bhat, professor of natural resource economics, Departments of Earth and Environment and Economics, Florida International University, and Samina Raja, professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and director, Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab, University of Buffalo. A reception will take place prior to the panel from 5:45-6:45 p.m. in Elrod 214. If you happen to be in town, we would love for you to join us!
Capstone Research Proposal Poster Presentations Nov. 1 • 3 p.m. Science Addition Great Hall
Environmental Studies Presents The Bates Memorial Lecture
SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS A Panel Discussion with: Prof. Mahadev Bhat, Florida Int'l University Prof. Samina Raja, Univ. of Buffalo Asst. Prof. Chelsea Fisher, W&L
Wednesday, October 2, 2019 7:00-8:15 PM STACKHOUSE THEATER
In preparation for their capstone course during the Winter term of their senior year, our senior majors and minors will be presenting their capstone research proposals, which will serve as a blueprint for their capstone research projects. Both quantitative and qualitative research projects are encouraged, and all research projects will have an interdisciplinary component. Students will present their research questions and provide discussion about data, methods and the significance of their proposed research. Receiving feedback on their research proposals is of utmost importance prior to them actually starting their research. If you will be in town, please join us, and share your thoughts with the students about their proposals. wlu.edu/environmental-studies-program | 3
The John Kyle Spencer Endowed Directorship for Environmental Studies
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he Environmental Studies Program expanded substantially in the last year thanks to a generous gift from Kathelen Amos and Daniel Amos, in memory of her son, John Kyle Spencer ’13. John, who died in January 2016, majored in environmental studies and minored in philosophy at Washington and Lee and was an outstanding example of interdisciplinarity in environmental problem-solving. Midway through his W&L career he developed a strong interest in stream restoration ecology, culminating in his capstone thesis examining possible approaches to removing the dam on the Maury River at Jordan’s Point. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in urban stream restoration at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology and was working with some of the leading researchers in the field. John’s M.S. degree from UGA was awarded posthumously in December 2016. The Amoses’ gift established a new tenure-track faculty position in the Environmental Studies Program, as well as the position of John Kyle Spencer Endowed Director for Environmental Studies. Robert Humston, who succeeded Jim Kahn ’75 as director of the program in 2016 and was a mentor to John during his time as a student, became the first person to hold this endowed position. It is the first endowed directorship for an existing interdisciplinary program at W&L.
“This gift represents a marvelous opportunity for W&L to strengthen and support one of our most robust interdisciplinary programs. [It]also recognizes Robert Humston’s signal influence on John, and the family’s gratitude for his dedication to teaching and his support of W&L students.” Provost Marc Conner Chelsea Fisher, an environmental anthropologist and archaeologist who completed her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, was hired in the new faculty position. This is the first full-time faculty position in Environmental Studies (Humston and Kahn have shared appointments in Biology and Economics, respectively). “This gift represents a marvelous opportunity for W&L to strengthen and support one of our most robust interdisciplinary programs,” said Provost Marc Conner. “The addition of a tenure-track faculty position and an endowed directorship strengthens the program, defines the leadership and creates additional coursework, advising and research opportunities in an area in which our students have demonstrated profound and increasing interest. “The gift also recognizes Robert Humston’s signal influence on John, and the family’s gratitude for his dedication to teaching
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The JKS Invitational Golf Tournament
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n a sunny July 13 in Athens, Georgia, friends and family of John Spencer ’13 converged at the UGA golf course for the inaugural JKS Invitational Golf Tournament. The event brought W&L alumni, students and faculty from UGA’s Odum School of Ecology and members of John’s family together to celebrate his memory. John majored in environmental studies and minored in philosophy and went on to pursue a master’s in stream restoration ecology at UGA. The tournament was held as a fundraiser for a graduate fellowship established at UGA to honor John’s legacy, which supports graduate students pursuing a master’s in conservation ecology. This year, over 30 friends and family attended the event, with 16 golfers teeing it up in the competition. Members of John’s family attending included John’s father, Tracy, and wife, Kathy, his mother, Kathelen, and husband, Dan, and his sisters, Laura and Margaret. Stephen Peck ’13 and Joe Scalzo ’13 emerged with the championship honors for the tournament. John’s classmates and close friends Hunter McMaster ’13, Brett Murray ’13 and Eli Chester ’13 organized the event to coincide with John’s birthday (July 12) and plan to hold it every year around that date. Please email us at environmentalstudies@wlu.edu, if you are interested in attending next year’s event, and we will put you in touch with the organizers. At right: Stephen Peck ’13 and Joe Scalzo ’13. wlu.edu/environmental-studies-program | 5
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resources, environmental humanities and environmental economics. Students can also propose their own elective track for the major. The new curriculum maintains the program’s interdisciplinary structure, while offering a more focused course of study in a particular area. The capstone course continues as the culminating experience in the major. Our students are engaged in a variety of research projects in several departments around the university, and in this newsletter we highlight a few of their summer projects and internships. This is an area where we are hoping to expand and create more opportunities for our students. While W&L faculty recruit students to collaborate on research projects, we would like to offer students more opportunities outside of W&L. Many faculty will connect students with colleagues at other universities where their interests align and openings for summer positions exist, but opportunities outside of academia are harder to create. If you know of opportunities for internships in your own workplace, or would be willing to help students find or create these opportunities, we would love to hear from you. The university awards summer grants for students to pursue intern-
ships (including unpaid internships), and Environmental Studies can offer some assistance as well. We are eager to expand the world of internship experiences available to our students to help them with their professional development — can you help us? Finally, I am sad to share that Environmental Studies recently lost two longtime friends and benefactors of the program. Earl Bates ’54, whose annual gift to Environmental
Studies supported student internships, research, travel, and for whom our annual student graduation awards are named, passed away in late 2017. A generous gift from his estate to Environmental Studies allows us to continue to support these and other student or co-curricular opportunities, including the annual Earle Bates Memorial Lecture Series. This past spring also saw the loss of Al
Knight ’51L, who established the A. Paul Knight Internship Program in Conservation in memory of his late son. Al was very involved in the stewardship of the internship program; thanks to his gift, and of those who made and continue to make gifts in his memory, we will be able to offer our students this amazing opportunity for years to come. The impact of Earle Bates and Al Knight on our program and our students can’t be overstated, and their generosity will continue to support Environmental Studies into the future. I hope you will enjoy reading more about everything that is happening on campus and in our program. In future newsletters, we would like to be able to share more stories about YOU — our alumni — and what paths your lives have followed since you left W&L. We would love to hear about your personal stories and reconnect with you. Please drop us a line at environmentalStudies@ wlu.edu, send us a note by mail, or give me a call and catch me up on where you’re at these days! I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to hearing from you or perhaps seeing you back on campus in the near future. Sincerely, Robert
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Memorial Fund for a permanent physical memorial to his son on campus. The fund, supported by over 50 family members, friends and classmates, underwrote the cost of a memorial plaque and an American beech tree from Spencer’s family farm, Sugar Hill Farm, in Yatesville, Georgia. The tree was planted in March 2018 at its new home on the Front Lawn near Newcomb Hall. John was a great example of intel-
lectual curiosity and passion in pursuit of environmental problem-solving. He is fondly remembered and missed by the many friends he made among the faculty and students at W&L. These gifts will ensure that his memory lives on in our campus community and that future students in Environmental Studies will have the opportunity to follow his example. Go to go.wlu.edu/john-kyle-spencer for more information.
and his support of W&L students,” Conner added. “Thanks to this new endowment, faculty in Environmental Studies will have greater capacity to extend that kind of dedication to future generations of students.” The endowment is one of two gifts to W&L that honor Spencer’s memory. Following his death, Spencer’s father, Tracy, established the John Spencer ’13
We are eager to expand the world of internship experiences available to our students to help them with their professional development — can you help us?
Meet Our New Faculty and Staff Professor Chelsea Fisher, Environmental Studies’ first full-time dedicated professor, joined W&L in August 2019. Chelsea comes to us from the University of Michigan, where she earned her Ph.D. in anthropology. She is motivated by the idea that archaeology can be used to historicize and politicize agricultural sustainability. Her current research in Yaxunah (Yucatán, Mexico) investigates the landscape as a record of long-term interactions between farming communities and local environments. Through archaeological methods and work with modern Maya farmers, she examines how deep histories of agriculture can enhance our understanding of food sovereignty and environmental justice in rural Mexico. Chelsea will lead the program in developing its offerings in environmental humanities, an interdisciplinary field that is strongly reflected in her scholarship and research interests. This fall, she will be teaching two sections of Introduction to Environmental Studies, as well as a special topics course on Holocene Food Systems. Debra Frein is our new program coordinator. Debra has an undergraduate degree in political science from Furman University and a master’s degree in environmental resources from Arizona State University. She comes to Environmental Studies via the W&L Roger Mudd Center for Ethics, where she was responsible for program administration and event planning. Prior to that, she worked for the National Park Service as an environmental compliance program manager in California and as an environmental program supervisor for a Native American tribe in Arizona. Her office (and our new Environmental Studies Program headquarters) is in Tucker Hall 015. Debra will be an important resource for students on all things ENVS, including curriculum questions and internship support, and she will be your contact, as alumni, for anything you might need from Environmental Studies. If you find yourself on campus, please stop by and say hello.
Caption: Past Knight interns and their families at a celebration of the program’s 25th anniversary, in Idaho. Al Knight ’51L, is standing in front, wearing a blue sweater, with his hands clasped. Photo courtesy Gary Franke.
A Loss for Environmental Studies Albert “Al” Francis Knight 1927-2019
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large number of you receiving this newsletter will have fond memories of Al Knight ’51L and the opportunities that the A. Paul Knight Internship Program in Conservation provided you during your time at W&L. We are sad to inform you that Al passed away on March 26, 2019. Al established the A. Paul Knight Intern-
ship Program in Conservation in 1988, after the death of his son, Paul Knight ’85. In the past 31 years, over 140 W&L undergraduate and law students have landed internships in environmental protection and conservation through the program. You may be one of the lucky students who interned at the Henry’s Fork Foundation, The
Nature Conservancy’s Flat Ranch or the Friends of Harriman State Park in Idaho, and if you got the chance to meet and get to know Al and his wife, Gail, you were one of the truly lucky ones. Although Al will no longer be around to be involved with the program, the A. Paul Knight Internship Program will continue at W&L with vigor, and many more students will get the opportunity to learn and grow in the incredible environment created by Al in memory of his son, Paul. wlu.edu/environmental-studies-program | 7
Student Awards 2019 Earle Bates Award Winners This year the Bates Award for Academic Achievement was presented to Katherine Cheng ’19. Katherine truly embraced the interdisciplinary nature of the environmental studies major and excelled in classes across the curriculum. After her junior year, she was offered an internship with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Her experience working on policy and public outreach in this internship led to an increased interest in environmental and social justice issues and inspired her capstone thesis assessing environmental risks and hazards at U.S. federal prison sites. Following graduation, Katherine began an internship at Houston METRO within the Capital and Environmental Planning Division. “I have had the opportunity to help develop capital projects and improvements regarding light rail, bus, and park and rides as well as bicycle and pedestrian initiatives. The Environmental Studies Program prepared me for the level of research and analysis required for these projects and understanding the agency’s multidisciplinary approach towards planning, such as evaluating environmental, economic, equity and feasibility criteria. I plan on working on urban and transit planning for a few years before entering graduate school.”
Juliana Keeling ’19 received the Bates Award for Environmental Citizenship. Juliana was active in campus sustainability efforts, particularly in the area of composting at W&L. This was closely related to her interest in compostable materials as an alternative to conventional, petroleum-based plastic products. She founded her own company, Terravive, that provides bioplastic and other compostable alternatives to single-use packaging and other types of products. While at W&L, she was invited to attend the first ever Princeton Environmental Ideathon — a three-day event at Princeton University where academic and industry leaders gathered to propose solutions for urban environmental challenges. Juliana’s passion for finding creative solutions to pressing environmental problems embodies the spirit of environmental citizenship that this award recognizes. (Read more about Juliana at go.wlu.edu/greensolutions_keeling.) “I started Terravive in 2016 with the mission of reducing plastics in our oceans. We utilize marine degradable and home compostable polymers to make single-use products. Now, Terravive is participating in the inaugural Target Incubator program (incubator.target. com). I’m in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at Target’s headquarters, working with the Target team to reduce plastic waste on a larger scale. My next steps are to continue scaling Terravive. We are strengthening and broadening our retail and distribution partnerships with Target and other businesses.”
Al Knight Award Winner Liz Todd received our inaugural Al Knight Conservation Award, which is given in recognition of significant accomplishment in the area of applied environmental conservation while enrolled at W&L. Liz worked with the Henry’s Fork Foundation to develop a system for analyzing spatial data to prioritize opportunities for agricultural water conservation in Idaho. She began this work as part of an internship with HFF and completed it as an honors thesis in environmental studies. “Soon after graduation I moved to D.C. and started work as a Dangermond Fellow for the National Audubon Society (NAS). This fellowship is funded by Jack and Laura Dangermond, the co-founders of Esri, and is intended to bring the next generation of conservation leaders to the front lines of conservation GIS, geospatial technologies and analytics. I am helping to run NAS’s Enterprise GIS System and supporting a wide variety of GIS-based solutions and products across our organization. Since NAS is an incredibly large conservation organization with over 1.5 million members, my daily work is varied. On any given day I might create a web application, run a suite of data analytic tools on a set of rasters, create graphics for a policy briefing or even make a story map for one of our projects. Part of my role includes also making sure the backend of the GIS system is working smoothly, administering and overseeing accounts, and creating new accounts and licensing software. My work is exciting and dynamic; it allows me to work directly with all of the newest GIS technologies to help further NAS’s conservation mission. My fellowship is just getting started, and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year will hold!”
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Send Debra an email at freind@wlu.edu to: - Let us know what you’ve been up to since your days at W&L. - Let us know if you would like to be involved in connecting our students with an internship at your place of work. Be sure to update your personal information at ColonnadeConnections.wlu.edu so we can continue to get information to you.
Student Summer Research
The view from Allie Case’s temporary digs near San Diego. (Yes, ‘digs’ was a volleyball pun.)
Allie Case ’20 is majoring in environmental studies and biology and is pursuing a career in the emerging field of zoo conservation biology, which applies knowledge gained through studies of animals in wildlife parks, zoos and aquariums to support conservation of wild populations. This summer Allie interned at the HubbsSeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego. Her internship was funded through a combination of awards from W&L’s Johnson Opportunity Grant Program and the Environmental Studies Program. She is originally from Lakeville, Minnesota, and captains the Generals volleyball team.
Chantal Iosso ’20 is majoring in environmental studies and geology and has been active in research throughout her time at W&L. This summer she worked with David Harbor, professor of geology, to study how the Maury River’s channel structure is changing in response to the recent removal of the dam at Jordan’s Point (read more in The Columns). Although the dam was in need of significant and expensive repair, the proposal to remove it was met with both support and resistance in the local community. Chantal’s research 10 | wlu.edu/environmental-studies-program
“My summer research was at SeaWorld Busch Garden’s Species Preservation Lab in San Diego. I worked in the lab doing reproductive
My favorite part of my research was working in the penguin exhibit and collecting samples from males to impregnate the females. Three of the four females laid eggs, so we were pretty successful!” research for all of the SeaWorld parks including Texas, Orlando,
will help inform decisions about future dams considered for removal by contributing to the emerging knowledge base about how rivers respond to dam removal. Her work was funded through W&L’s Summer Research Scholars Program. Chantal is from Falls Church, Virginia, and has been an active leader in student environmental organizations and efforts on campus. This past year she studied abroad in the Quito, Ecuador, and the Galapagos Islands in a program focused on marine ecology. “Dam removal is becoming more common and can result in
and California. I ran analyses and performed hormone extractions using blood, semen and urine samples for a multitude of projects, such as dolphin artificial inseminations and pregnancy tracking. I also helped update the inventory for our frozen zoo, which is where samples are kept to preserve genetic material of species in case something were to happen in the future and samples for breeding were needed. My favorite part of my research was working in the penguin exhibit and collecting samples from males to impregnate the females. Three of the four females laid eggs, so we were pretty successful!”
Conner Van Vooren ’21 is minoring in environmental studies with a major in biology and is interested in studying marine science after W&L. Conner was offered an opportunity to work with scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Eastern Shore Lab (VIMS ESL) in Wachapreague, Virginia, studying the conservation physiology of sharks and skates. His internship was funded by
And as for one unique thing that I learned this summer, I would have to say from experience that no amount of protection or cover while snorkeling can protect you from a sea nettle stinging you in the face.” awards from the Johnson Opportunity Grant Program and the Environmental Studies Program. Conner hails from Morrisville, North Carolina, and swims freestyle events for the ODAC champion Generals swim team; he was elected to the 2018-2019 ODAC all-conference team. “I have spent the past two months at the VIMS ESL working with a visiting professor studying aspects of physiology and blood chemistry in sandbar sharks and clearnose skates.
My goal, and my professor’s goal for me, was to learn something unique and discover the particular area of marine research that I am interested in pursuing, and I feel that I have succeeded in doing that. In addition to helping with the shark research, I involved myself with the aquaculture, ecology and animal husbandry projects going on here year-round. I particularly enjoyed participating in the ecological target species surveys throughout the summer and caring for and helping to maintain several of the animals brought back on those surveys. I have also updated and organized the lab’s specimen collection. Through all of this research, taking water quality measurements, setting nets, cleaning boats, feeding sharks and collecting specimens, I have found that my true interests lie the field research and the hands-on attention required by the ecology, aquaculture and animal husbandry departments. And as for one unique thing that I learned this summer, I would have to say from experience that no amount of protection or cover while snorkeling can protect you from a sea nettle stinging you in the face.” Conner Van Vooren cleans one of the outdoor holding tanks at the VIMS Eastern Shore Lab before transporting its new resident shark into it.
sediment pollution or bank erosion, so removal projects are important to study. Professor Harbor and I are
“Dam removal is becoming more common and can result in sediment pollution or bank erosion, so removal projects are important to study.”
monitoring and modeling how the Maury River is responding to the recent dam removal at Jordan’s Point Park. We used a combination of drone imagery, sediment sampling and cross sectioning to evaluate current stream conditions and model future changes during flood conditions. So far, we’ve seen only minor sand transport and localized bank erosion, but I’ll be continuing research into the school year as my thesis.”
Chantal Iosso and David Harbor set up shop on the banks of the Maury River as part of their ongoing study to assess changes in geomorphology following removal of the Jordan’s Point dam. wlu.edu/environmental-studies-program | 11
Environmental Studies DEPARTMENT HEAD Robert Humston, John Kyle Spencer Director for Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology humstonr@wlu.edu, 540-458-8341 CORE FACULTY Jim Casey Associate Professor of Economics caseyj@wlu.edu Greg Cooper Professor of Philosophy cooperg@wlu.edu Chelsea Fisher Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies cfisher@wlu.edu Lisa Greer Geology Department Chair; Professor of Geology greerl@wlu.edu Bill Hamilton Biology Department Chair; Professor of Biology hamiltone@wlu.edu David Harbor Professor of Geology harbord@wlu.edu Lawrence E. Hurd Herwick Professor of Biology hurdl@wlu.edu
204 W. Washington St. Lexington, VA 24450-2116 www.wlu.edu
Jim Kahn John F. Hendon Professor of Economics and Professor of Environmental Studies kahnj@wlu.edu Harvey Markowitz Associate Professor of Anthropology markowitzh@wlu.edu AFFILIATED FACULTY Paul Cabe Professor of Biology cabep@wlu.edu Kim Hodge Director of Sustainability Initiatives and Education hodgek@wlu.edu Leah Naomi Green Visiting Assistant Professor of English greenl@wlu.edu Joseph Guse Winfrey Term Professor of Economics gusej@wlu.edu Rebecca C. Harris Professor of Politics harrisr@wlu.edu Megan F. Hess Associate Professor of Accounting hessm@wlu.edu
Margaret Anne Hinkle Assistant Professor of Geology hinklem@wlu.edu Elizabeth Knapp Director of the Johnson Program in Leadership and Integrity, Professor of Geology knappe@wlu.edu David Marsh Professor of Biology marshd@wlu.edu Sandy Reiter Darrold and Kay Cannan Associate Term Professor of Business Administration, chair of the Business Administration Department reiters@wlu.edu Kary Smout Associate Professor of English smoutk@wlu.edu Jim Warren Professor of English Emeritus warrenj@wlu.edu Julie Youngman Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Practice youngmanj@wlu.edu
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