| Science, Humanities Intersect in Environmental Studies Interdisciplinary minor puts it all together  As energy sources, climate change, and sustainability penetrate more of the public consciousness, Western humans may now be more aware of their cumulative effects on the natural environment than in any other era since the Industrial Revolution.
But awareness does not equal understanding. The concerned yet uninformed can muddy the picture: Having heard of climate change, a casual observer tends to simply draw a direct causal line between global warming and any unseasonably hot day or single hurricane. Holiday travelers bemoan the fate of species in Great Smokey Mountain National Park while driving their carbon-burning vehicles into gridlock on the park's main road. Webster's interdisciplinary program in Environmental Studies fills the void between awareness and understanding. With a focus on the spectrum of factors that create and steer the health of the land and natural systems - air, water, and the energy flows that link everything together - on which humans depend, the program exposes students to the science, the literature, the politics, and the social movements that impact the environment. FULL STORY |
| Student Spotlight: Literature for the Left Behind Alumna Ibur, professor Sempreora teach where few teachers dare "I teach people who no one else teaches," the 1973 Webster graduate says. "The underserved populations, from poor troubled juveniles, to prison inmates, to seniors. FULL STORY |
Faculty Feature
A Q-and-A with new full-time faculty member Jill Stulce. Jill Stulce As associate education director, she teaches classes and conducts program administration. She coordinates and teaches Webster's students in the simulation lab at Washington University, where Webster's resident nurse anesthetists work with fully automated mannequins that respond to the students' anesthesia in ways that mimic real-life responses. FULL STORY |
It's no challenge to divine why Dean David Carl Wilson was thrilled to announce Peter H. Raven as the College of Arts & Sciences' newest advisory board member. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden since 1971, is a world-renowned scientist, botanist, author, and professor, acclaimed for his scientific acumen, strategic insight, and concern for biodiversity. His accomplishments, published works, and leadership positions are too numerous to list here, but suffice to say he has led - and received honors from - prestigious organizations on most of the planet's continents. He has been described as one of the people most responsible for humankind's concern for other organisms on the planet. Any consideration for the future health and diversity of our planet's life forms should not be undertaken without weighing what he has to say. |
