Fredonia, N.Y. -- April 18, 2008 -- As part of SUNY Fredonia’s Earth Week events, three award-winning professors will share their work during an aquatic issues panel on April 23 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in S-104 Williams Center on the Fredonia campus.
Combining personal stories, biological research, creative writing and the visual arts, the panel will feature Professor Alberto Rey (Visual Arts and New Media), Dr. Timothy Strakosh (Biology), and Professor Aimee Nezhukumatathil (English).
Although the panel brings together a leading expert on fisheries biology, an Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide, and a renowned scholar/writer of environmental literature, it will depart from typical academic presentations, where professors lecture on their research. Instead, the roundtable event will focus on the professors’ personal and creative engagements with aquatic issues.
According to organizer Dr. Christina Jarvis, director of American studies at SUNY Fredonia, the event is designed to highlight important environmental issues such as the need for invasive species management and pollution controls while also sharing the personal stories of researchers working on these topics. As Jarvis said, “We want to celebrate the beauty, poetry, and diversity of aquatic environments. That’s why we’re including a painter, a poet, and a biologist.”
In addition to bringing perspectives from the arts, humanities, and sciences together, the panel will emphasize the importance of environmental activism and community service. The many environmental organizations Professors Rey, Strakosh, and Nezukumatathil have worked include the SAREP Youth Fly Fishing Program, the Lake Erie Watershed Action Plan Team, and the Western New York Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management.
The aquatic issues panel is free and open to the public. Light, organic refreshments will be provided by the Faculty Student Association and SUNY Fredonia’s Sustainability Committee.
Earth Week is being observed at SUNY Fredonia April 19 through 26. The full schedule of events is available on the university’s Go Green website (www.fredonia.edu/gogreen/).
