Sesquicentennial series focuses on campus environment

Students plant pines at the Grady Tract at the Arboretum in 1943, one of the many enviromental restoration projects at a key parcel of the campus environment, the UW Arboretum. Now the world’s oldest center for restoring lost landscapes, the Arboretum’s mission to reconstruct and understand the prairies, forests, savannas and wetlands of presettlement Wisconsin reflects the collective dreams of Aldo Leopold, John Curtis, Henry Greene and others. And through its work, the much-loved Arboretum has become a model not only for healing the land, but also for restoring our relationship with nature.

DETAILS: The series begins Tuesday, Jan. 26, at noon in Union South (see Today in the Union for the room assignment) and continues for 10 more Tuesdays at the same time and place through April. Here are the topics: Jan. 26: The State of the Campus Environment Feb. 2: Our Climatological and Geological Heritage Feb. 9: Pre-Campus Ecology and Limnology Feb. 16: Cultures of the Past Feb. 23: Origins and Growth of the Campus March 2: The Land, the Lake, Campus Life, and Campus Lore March 23: The Campus as Classroom and Laboratory April 6: Campus Management and the Environment April 13: Visions of the “Built” Campus April 20: Visions of the “Natural” Campus April 27: The Campus as a Learning Environment For more information, including names of panelists for each discussion, visit the IES Web site.

What natural and human forces have shaped the landscape of the UW- Madison campus?

How has the campus’s physical setting influenced social and intellectual life at the university?

What are the challenges of managing the campus environment today, and what will they be in the future?

These are some of the questions to be taken up in a discussion series at Union South this semester organized by the Institute for Environmental Studies and inspired by the university’s sesquicentennial.

“A Landscape for Learning: The Environmental History and Future of the UW- Madison Campus,” is the theme of the series,

Each discussion will feature two to four faculty and staff panelists, with occasional guests from beyond the campus. All discussions are free and open to the campus community and public.

“The campus environment is a subject of growing interest in many corners,” says Tom Sinclair, IES’s public information manager.

“Not long ago, for example, the university hired its first environmental management coordinator, Daniel Einstein. He has worked both with the people who maintain the facilities and with students and professors from many departments on some very creative projects. Now, on another front, a campus committee is grappling with long-term plans for the campus natural areas, like Picnic Point and Muir Woods, which have suffered, until lately, from benign neglect. A lot is happening here.”

Organizers of the discussion series say that directing more attention to UW- Madison’s environment is a fitting way to celebrate the university’s sesquicentennial. The campus is, after all, a microcosm of the larger environment, but most of us take it for granted.

“That’s unfortunate,” says Sinclair. “This is a remarkable place with an interesting history. And like many places, it is constantly changing. We should take full advantage of opportunities to make the campus itself a focus of environmental learning and innovation, not just a platform for studying other environments.”

The series opens at noon Tuesday, Jan. 26 at Union South with a discussion of “The State of the Campus Environment,” presented by David Eagan, assistant researcher, and Tom Sinclair, public information manager.

The series then goes back in time to consider the natural and human histories of the campus, eventually returns to the present for closer examination, and finally takes a speculative look at the future.