Speakers
Meetings are held on the second Monday of the Month, 7:30 P.M., 2nd Floor Oxford Community Room, Lebanon Citizens National Bank, unless noted otherwise. All meetings are free and open to the public.
MARCH 12, 2012: Birds of the World: Assessing the Status of Accessible Knowledge of World Birds, Town Peterson, University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Dr. Peterson’s research focuses on aspects of the geography of biodiversity, especially the geography and ecology of species’ distributions in space and in time. His formal training began at Miami University, with a degree in Zoology. In his graduate studies at the University of Chicago, he specialized in tropical ornithology, with a particular focus on systematics. As such, one component of his research focuses on the taxonomy of birds, as well as on the phylogeny of recently radiated clades of birds. Tied to this focus is work with the basic geography of bird distributions and the composition of local avifaunas, based on detailed site inventories and scientific collections around the world which is the focus of this talk. Dr. Peterson’s work, however, has taken him into other fields, including conservation biology and planning, invasive species biology, and disease transmission systems. Dr. Peterson’s work is collaborative in nature, and usually involves geographers, computer scientists, and biologists. This talk will be in 218 Pearson Hall, Miami University, Oxford at 7:30 P.M.
APRIL 13, 20112: The Impact of Hog Island, Danette Hickey, Marshall Elementary School. Hog Island Educator’s Workshop brought together 60 educators from around the country to share and learn how to incorporate natural history into the classroom. As a participant in this program Danette had the chance to meet fascinating people, practice playing in Nature, gain new ideas and insights into science education, and enjoy a beautiful paradise. This talk will focus on the highlights of the camp as well as show the impact that this workshop has had in her classroom.
About the Speaker: Danette is a first grade teacher at Marshall Elementary School. She has served as an Earth Club Co-Advisor for the past 4 years and is currently serving her third year as the Treasurer for the Environmental Mobil Unit. Though not an obsessive birder herself, she has been surrounded by others with the affliction all of her life. 2nd Floor Oxford Community Room, Lebanon Citizens National Bank.
May 14, 2012: The BIG Garden, Carol Mundy, Head Naturalist at Glenwood Gardens. When children can play and learn in a safe environment, such as a children’s garden, they become at ease with nature. Learning to be at ease in a small garden setting allows them to translate the lessons learned there to their visit to a large park, a hike in a forest, or chasing butterflies in the prairie (i.e. “the BIG Garden”). We must use any opportunity to foster in children the genuine, deep-seated love for nature that only comes from compiling lots of little nature experiences throughout a person’s life. You remember the first firefly you caught, or the first shooting star you witnessed – these are the experiences that build a foundation for healthy mind, body and spirit. This program was originally presented at the American Horticultural Society’s Youth and Children’s Gardening symposium and it is meant to be an encouragement to parents, teachers and other adults to involve children in nature exploration. By exploring on a small scale, such as in a children’s garden, children learn to be aware and respect nature on a big scale when they encounter it.
While Carol holds a degree in Animal Health from the University of Cincinnati, she’s been a nature enthusiast her whole life and claims most of her natural history knowledge is through “osmosis.” She’s been a Naturalist with the Hamilton County Park District in Cincinnati since 1986 and became Head Naturalist at Glenwood Gardens in 2004. She’s taught for University of Cincinnati, traveled as a Naturalist with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, and currently hosts a weekly radio program. She’s been a speaker at many local and national groups including the National Youth and Children’s Gardening Symposium for the American Horticultural Society, the Miami Valley Gardening Conference, the National Wildlife Rehabilitator’s Association, the Herb Society of America, the National Conference for Wild Ones, the Native Plant Association, and the Midwest Native Plant Conference. 7:30 P.M., 2nd Floor Oxford Community Room, Lebanon Citizens National Bank.
