{"id":625,"date":"2017-10-05T12:36:02","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T12:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-environmental-studies\/newsletter201511\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T16:40:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T16:40:05","slug":"newsletter201511","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/environmental-studies\/about\/enewsletters\/esnewsletter\/newsletter201511\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual Newsletter – 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Environmental<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Publication of Macalester’s Environmental Studies Department<\/strong>
November 2015<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Letter From the Chair<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dear Friends of Environmental Studies,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year was a great year for the ES Department.  Of special note is that Louisa Bradtmiller was granted tenure at Macalester and promoted to Associate Professor.  For those of you who don\u2019t know Louisa, she is a climate scientist and has brought great energy to the department.  Besides teaching courses about climate science, she has been instrumental in developing collaborations with faculty in the social sciences to examine climate issues from an interdisciplinary point of view.  We were fortunate to recruit Louisa and even more fortunate to have her continue on as a permanent member of the department. I want to thank all of those who took the time and effort to supply thoughtful comments on her teaching and service that allowed the College to award her tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had 14 students graduate in May 2015, up 1 from 2014 but down a few from our 5-year average (19).  Of the 2015 graduates, 10 had disciplinary emphases and 4 had interdisciplinary emphases.  Among the disciplinary emphases 7 were from the social sciences and 3 from the sciences.  A recent accounting from the Registrar\u2019s office lists 41 majors and 16 minors with 14 of the majors slated to graduate in May 2016.  I encourage you to look at the department\u2019s website<\/a> where you will be able to view the latest assessment report which includes information on the senior survey given to the 2015 graduates.  Next year we will have a department review, and if you are an alum, you may be asked to fill out a survey about how your ES major has impacted you. Please help us improve our department by filling out the survey when you receive it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduating seniors, Samantha Burlager, Britta Dornfeld and Gabrielle Queenan were acknowledged by the department for their contributions to the department over their 4 years at Macalester. Britta was awarded the Environmental Studies Scholarship Award.  Britta came to Macalester from Owatonna, MN.  Like many Minnesotans, her love for the environment stems in part from many summers spent in the Boundary Waters and surrounding area.  Britta studied abroad in Jordan, and returned to Jordan on a prestigious U.S. State Department Critical Language Scholarship to continue her study of Arabic during the summer following graduation.  Britta has been putting her Environmental Studies skills to work since her return, doing environmental community outreach and water research with AmeriCorps Cape Cod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha Burlager and Gabrielle Queenan shared the Environmental Studies Citizenship Award.  Sam Burlager, majored in Environmental Studies and minored in Political Science. During her time at Macalester, she participated in numerous student organizations focused on sustainability issues, and served as the co-chair for the Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society.  Along with Li Guan and Courtney Olson, Sam was the recipient of an Action Fund grant, and helped plan a carrotmob in cooperation with the Latino Economic Development Center and Lake Street Council at El Norte\u00f1o Restaurant in Minneapolis. Sam worked at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on environmental justice issues, and assisted in facilitating the Eco Experience exhibit at the State Fair. Along with Gabby Queenan, Sam worked with Professor Christie Manning and Professor Roopali Phadke on the Community Climate Change Conversations project.  Sam is currently working in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, as a Minnesota GreenCorps member at the Stearns History Museum.  She is working on developing new interactive programming for their environmental history exhibit, as well as creating environmental education curriculum for the local Boys and Girls Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabby Queenan, majored in Environmental Studies and Political Science at Macalester.  During her time at Macalester, she served as a Chapter Coordinator for Rising Minds, a non-profit organization based in both the U.S. and Guatemala that focuses on cultivating sustainable development initiatives in rural Guatemalan communities.  At the University of Maryland School of Law, she worked with Macalester alum Professor Robert Percival as a research fellow in environmental law and participated in the 2013 International Union for Conservation of Nature in New Zealand. In addition to serving as one of the campus coordinators for the Zero Waste initiative and the Sustainability Student Network, she worked with Professor Christie Manning and Professor Roopali Phadke on the Community Climate Change Conversations project.  Working with the City of St. Paul and the Science Museum of Minnesota, they developed a model for community deliberation that engages a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse group of citizens to consider how residents can participate in climate change adaptation planning.  Gabby is currently working as an Ecology Educator in Saco, Maine, with The Ecology School.  This non-profit focuses on fostering a sense of stewardship for the Earth by educating youth in the science of ecology and the practice of sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Hornbach
Chair, Environmental Studies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Environmental Studies Student Award Winners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"2015<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 2015 Environmental Studies Student Award winners are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental Studies Citizenship Award:
<\/strong>  Samantha Burlager and Gabby Queenan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental Studies Scholarship Award:
<\/strong>      Britta Dornfled<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prof. Louisa Bradtmiller Receives Tenure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to Prof. Louisa Bradtmiller who has been granted tenure.  Louisa is a climate scientist and started in the Environmental Studies Department in 2009.  She teaches the following courses:  The Earth’s Climate System; Climate and Society; Climate Change: Science, Economics and Policy; Paleoclimate; Modeling Earth Systems; and the Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Water<\/td>\"Science<\/td><\/tr>
\"Environmental<\/td>\"Environmental<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sustainability Update<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Greetings from the Sustainability Office!  The Sustainability Advisory Committee is revising the college-wide Sustainability Plan.  You can still add your comments if you act quickly.  Check out the draft language and comment form here: macalester.edu\/sustainability<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban sustainability is now a part of the college strategic plan and the Sustainability Office is using urban sustainability as a theme for this year.  Vivian Mitnick, our new Minnesota GreenCorp member in our office, is helping us research what urban sustainability could mean for Macalester. If you have expertise in this area to share, please let us know by sending a note to shansen2@macalester.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Sustainability Manager, Suzanne Savanick Hansen, is working with Roopali Phadke’s class that will attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris this fall.\u00a0 Suzanne is also continuing an effort to use the campus as a living laboratory for sustainability education.\u00a0 She recently revised a web module to help schools use their campus as a teaching tool (serc.carleton.edu\/introgeo\/campusbased\/index.html<\/a>).\u00a0 The Environmental Studies Senior Seminar that developed the college’s first greenhouse gas emissions report is listed in the exemplary teaching activities collection (serc.carleton.edu\/introgeo\/campusbased\/examples\/greenhouseinv.html<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EnviroThursdays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There were 18 EnviroThursday presentations during the 2014-15 school with with over 575 in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n