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Faculty Scholarly Activity & News

Below is an archive of news relating to the MSES, and some of the scholarly activity of MSES faculty, including conference presentations, publications, grants and talks.

Rebecca Purdom gives presentation in Brazil
Week of April 7, 2008
Prof. Rebecca Purdom (environmental studies) is serving as visiting professor of law at UNIMEP University in Piracicaba, Brazil. She is working with Prof. Paulo Alfanso Leme Machado, known in Brazil as the "father of Brazilian environmental law," on a book about constitutional law and the environment. She recently gave the keynote address at "Deasfio Ambiental/Ribeirao Quiombo: Bacia Hidrografica e Contexto Regional" [Enviromental Defense/Quilombo River: Hidrograic Basins in Regional Context] in Americanas, Sao Paulo. Her address, titled "The Public Participation in the Legal Management of Natural Resources and Freshwater System - The International Vision," marked the launch of the first freshwater ecosystem restoration effort under Brazil's new water management scheme. Rebecca will continue as a visiting professor in Brazil until May. More on Rebecca Purdom...


Steven Letendre authors two reports
Week of March 24, 2008
Prof. Steven Letendre (management & environmental studies) served as the lead author on two recently released energy reports. The first report, titled "Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles and the Vermont Grid: A Scoping Analysis", was co-authored with colleagues from the University of Vermont’s Transportation Center. This report presents the results of six months of research to better understand the regional impacts that would likely result from greater use of so-called plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).

Steven served as the lead author on a second report titled "Residential Photovoltaic Metering and Interconnection Study: Utility Perspectives and Practices." The report presents findings from a survey of 63 electric power companies that Steven conducted on behalf of the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA). The report documents how individual utilities handle the integration of home-scale solar electric power systems. More on Steve Letendre...


Christensen co-edits anthology of essays
Week of February 25, 2008
Prof. Laird Christensen’s (English) anthology of essays on place-based teaching, Teaching about Place: Learning from the Land, was released this month by the University of Nevada Press. Working with co-editor Hal Crimmel of Weber State University, Laird solicited and compiled narrative accounts of bioregional teaching experiments from leading environmental educators such as John Elder, Ann Zwinger, Terrell Dixon, and SueEllen Campbell. In addition to collaborating on the volume’s introduction with Professor Crimmel, Laird contributed his own essay, “Calamity Brook to Ground Zero,” which tells the story of GMC’s 2001 Hudson River Block Course. More on Laird Christensen...


Steven Fesmire awarded Fulbright
Week of February 18, 2008
Prof. Steven Fesmire has been awarded a Fulbright grant to lecture and conduct research at Kyoto University in Japan. The grant runs from March 2009 until August 2009. While at Kyoto University, Fesmire will teach two courses and complete a five-month collaborative research project titled “Ecological Imagination in the Kyoto School of Philosophy and Classical American Pragmatism: Citizenship Education in Japan and the U.S.” More on Steven Fesmire...


Trio present at Brazil conference
Week of November 19, 2007
Provost Bill Throop (philosophy and environmental studies), Prof. Meriel Brooks (biology) and Prof. Rebecca Purdom (environmental studies) presented papers at the 15th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 4 to 7. The conference focused on the theme Local Populations and Diversity in a Changing World. Provost Throop's talk was on "Ecological Restoration amid Climate Change: The Case for Historical Fidelity.” Purdom spoke about "The Vulnerability of Stakeholder Participation in Water Resources Management amid Climate Change: Considerations and Solutions for Local Control", and Brooks presented her work entitled "Of Alewife, Trout and Lamprey: Puzzles for Sustainable Recreational Fisheries in the Northeastern United States.” More on Bill Throop; Meriel Brooks; Rebecca Purdom


Steven Fesmire's book published in Chinese translation
Week of May 7, 2007
Prof. Steven Fesmire's (Philosophy & Environmental Studies) book John Dewey and Moral Imagination: Pragmatism in Ethics (Indiana University Press, 2003) will appear soon in Chinese translation with Peking University Press, China's top university press. The book is being translated by Xu Peng, Visiting Fellow at the Institute for American Thought, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. More on Steven Fesmire...



Sue Sutheimer invited to present at science conferences
Week of April 30, 2007
Prof. Susan Sutheimer (Chemistry) has been invited to present a paper at the Fall, 2007 American Chemical Society meeting in Boston this August. She will present a paper for the Symposium on National Science Foundation Catalyzed Innovations in the Undergraduate Curriculum, a part of the Division of Chemical Education program. This symposium is designed to allow award winners of NSF Adaptation and Implementation Grants to report their accomplishments and to inform others considering making curricular changes. Her paper "Enhancing the Undergraduate Laboratory Experience by Combining an Environmental Focus, Instrumental Methods and Service-Learning," will highlight the innovative General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry laboratory curriculum at GMC. More on Sue Sutheimer...



Susan Sutheimer attends N.E. Association of Environmental Biologists Conference
Week of March 26, 2007
Prof. Susan Sutheimer (chemistry) and GMC junior Necole Whitcher attended the 31st Annual Conference of the New England Association of Environmental Biologists at the Grand Summit Hotel and Conference Center, Mount Snow, West Dover, Vermont. Session topics included Lake and River Management and Integrating Science into American Thought and Policies. Poster sessions included bioassessment, geomorphology, and nutrients in surface waters from authors throughout New England. Whitcher is an Environmental Studies major (Natural Science Track) who is especially interested in wetlands. She is currently doing research measuring the amount of salt in stream water (conductivity) before and after snowstorms to assess the impact of salting roads. More on Susan Sutheimer...



Prof. Jim Harding receives Vt. State Forestry appointments
Week of March 5, 2007
Prof. Jim Harding (Natural Resources Management) has been elected Secretary of the Green Mountain Division of the Society of American Foresters (term began 1/1/07). As a result Harding serves on this organization's Executive Committee. On Friday 2/2/07 the group held a legislative breakfast in Montpelier for assorted Senators and House Members. Governor Douglas was also in attendance. This organization is devoted to advancing the business of forestry in the state of Vermont. They hold quarterly meetings and organize technical sessions dealing with topics such as Forest Tent Caterpillers, Silviculture Treatments, Managing Forests for Wildlife, etc.

Harding has also been appointed the Forest Science Coordinator for the New England Society of American Foresters (two-year term began 1/1/07). This is also an Executive Committee appointment. Harding’s role in this organization is to disseminate science in the formation of policy and to develop themes for a quarterly newsletter. Harding has taken a leadership role in organizing the Annual Winter Meeting to be held this March in Fairlee, Vermont.

Harding was also elected to a 2-year term as Chair of the Society of American Forester's Working Group on Recreation. He'll be responsible for organizing technical sessions related to forest recreation and public lands management for the 2007 National Convention in Portland, Oregon in October. More on Jim Harding...



Steven Fesmire delivers talk in Unity College Inspired Speaker series
Week of Feb. 12, 2007
Prof. Steven Fesmire (philosophy & environmental studies) traveled to Unity, Maine on January 24 to give the keynote address for Unity College's Inspired Speaker Series. To a backdrop of photographs of GMC’s Cerridwen Farm and sustainable dining initiative, Fesmire spoke on the topic of “Ecological Imagination.” He defined this as our capacity to perceive, in light of possibilities, the relationships that constitute any focus. “We cannot respond to what we do not perceive,” he observed. He urged cultivation of ecological imagination to respond to (a) the global scene of human impact on the natural environment, and (b) our novocain-like disconnection from the mosaic of natural and social relationships in which we dwell. More on Steven Fesmire...



William Throop invited to national meeting on "The Future of Environmental Philosophy"
Week of Feb. 5, 2007
Provost Bill Throop was invited to join a dozen environmental philosophers from around the nation for a two-day meeting (February 9 and 10) on "The Future of Environmental Philosophy." The University of North Texas, which offers the only Ph.D. in environmental philosophy in the country, hosted the meeting. Holmes Rolston, Baird Callicott, Bryan Norton and Dale Jamieson were among those who wrestled with questions about how to strengthen this relatively new field of philosophy and about which new directions for graduate education and research were warranted by our global environmental challenges. More on William Throop...



Steven Letendre testifies before Vt. legislature on hybrid car technology
Week of January 22, 2007
Prof. Steven Letendre (business and economics) testified before the Vermont state legislature last week on the feasibility of electric hybrid cars capable of plugging in to the electric grid. Letendre, who is currently on leave from GMC to conduct electric car research, told lawmakers that the “plug-in hybrid” is the car of the future, but that the future is almost here. He described vehicles currently in production, including the Toyota Prius, which have been altered to be able to plug into the power grid. These cars will get 100 miles to the gallon, he reported. Letendre has been researching Vehicle to Grid technologies for several years and has published numerous articles on the topic. He is currently researching under a contract with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the federal Department of Energy. More on Steven Letendre...



Provost William Throop published in Restoration Ecology
Week of January 15, 2007
Provost William Throop’s study on the unintended consequences of increased volunteerism on wilderness restoration projects has been published in the journal, Restoration Ecology. The article explores the growing tension between the trend toward increased volunteer participation in environmental restoration, and the legal requirements governing U.S. wilderness management. The number of volunteers participating in restoration projects has increased steadily over the years. When this trend occurs in legally designated wilderness areas, the results can cause more damage than good. Throop’s study looks at the paradox between the intentions of these volunteers and the effects their efforts have. “The ideal of participatory restoration is often in conflict with the goals of wilderness preservation,” says Throop. More on William Throop...