Don’t Touch That Dial

Upon the recommendation of the University Sustainability Committee and with the approval of President Ruscio and the President’s Council, the University is embarking on a program to reduce energy consumption through temperature regulation in University facilities. The settings for all buildings will be 68 degrees maximum during the winter months and at 74 degrees minimum through the summer months.

 

Maintaining these temperatures will conserve energy, save money, and reduce the University’s carbon footprint. The success of this program depends on participation of all students, faculty and staff.  Please contact Facilities Managment at 8490 for more information about the policy o, if the temperature is exceedingly cold or hot in your space, to submit a work order.

Laura Henry-Stone & Sustainability Education

 

 

Dr. Laura Henry-Stone will be joining the campus community as a post doctorate fellow in the Environmental Studies program.　 She will be teaching Introduction to Environmental Studies this fall and continuing her research into using place based education in the pursuit of sustainable ecological systems.　 She will also be working to further integrate the environmental studies program with our other interdisciplinary programs, our campus sustainability efforts, and our community collaborations.  Laura received her BA in biology from Saint Mary’s College of Maryland,　her MA in Earth Literacy from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College,　and her PhD in Sustainability Education from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  The two year position was funded by a grant to the Associated Colleges of the South from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.　

Yellowstone Blog

Check out this blog:  http://wlbioinyellowstone.blogspot.com.  Dr. Bill Hamilton and the students in Biology 332 – Plant Functional Ecology will be blogging about their trip to Yellowstone.  Elk and bison and wolves oh my!  

See  http://www.wlu.edu/x30906.xml for information on Bill’s research in Yellowstone.

Lisa Greer – Coral Reefs & Climate Change

Lisa Greer, Assistant Professor of Geology, has been studying the dramatic population decrease in Caribbean populations of staghorn coral (Acroporoa cericonis) that began in the 1980s.  Fossilized specimens of the coral indicate that the die-off may not be caused solely by climate change.  The fossil record indicates that warmer temperatures have had little effect over the last 500,000 years that staghorn has been a major reef builder.

Greer hopes to be doing research this summer on the causes of the die-off in the Caribbean with W&L students in the R.E. Lee Research Program.

Environmental Studies Fellowship Position

Dr. Laura Henry-Stone has been awarded a grant for a two year post doctoral fellowship position in Environmental Studies at Washington and Lee University. Funding for the position is being provided by a grant to the Associated Colleges of the South by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Dr. Henry-Stone’s role will be to enhance the treatment of sustainability in the Environmental Studies curriculum and to further integrate the environmental studies program with our other interdisciplinary programs, such as the Shepherd Program in Poverty and Human Capability, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, the Women’s Studies Program, and the African-American Studies Program.