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Bellarmine Magazine_Spring2013

Students in the spring 2011 Honors geology course take a break during field work at the Spencer-Bullitt county line. Photo by Dr. Kate Bulinski Most of us are accustomed to think- ing of our local environment as the cumulative physical elements that determine louisville’s capricious weather, its annual crop yields, its oft-dubious water and air quality, thriving plant and animal life, and so on. But students in Bellarmine’s new school of environmental stud- ies can wax eloquent on much more than the “dust and mortar,” so to speak, of what makes our natural surroundings what they are and will be in the years to come. Bellarmine recently announced the official launch of the School of Environmental Studies, which has been in develop- ment under founding dean Rob Kingsolver’s guidance for the past three years. According to Dr. Kingsolver, formerly director of Bellarmine’s Center for Regional Environmental Studies, “One thing environ- mental science (in general) has in common with the liberal-arts core is that it takes a breadth of skills and understanding to be good at it. This is an integrative discipline, and the social sci- ences are just as important to environmental studies as classic scientific research. While scientists can pinpoint what’s wrong in the aquaculture of a stream or river, or what conditions might be like for farmers in the future if such and such a circumstance persists—if they can’t understand the political and social issues that undergird the situation, then they can’t effect change.” The new school incorporates Bellarmine’s current under- graduate majors and minors in environmental studies and enviro- nmental science, as well as adding academic focus areas such as environmental engineering, education, law, policy, conservation, corporate sustainability, and international development. The spring 2013 39


Bellarmine Magazine_Spring2013
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