Rural Communities, Sustainable Agriculture Topics Of March Lectures At Washington College

Chestertown, MD, March 10, 2004 — Washington College's Center for Environment and Society has organized two lectures in March that address citizen leadership and the sustainable future of rural, agricultural communities.

“These are vitally important issues for our region,” said Dr. Wayne Bell, director of the Center, which recently completed the pilot year of the Rural Communities Leadership Program. “Like never before, the rural economy and natural resources of the Eastern Shore are feeling the pressures of development. It is my hope that these lectures inspire citizens to examine these issues more deeply and to discuss alternative visions and strategies to better take advantage of such changes to preserve rural communities and the working landscapes on which they depend.”

On Tuesday, March 16, Dr. Jean Richardson, former director of Environmental Programs/ Partnerships in Communities (EPIC) in Vermont, will discuss “Leadership and Community: Taking Hold of Your Future,” in a free public lecture at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. A professor emerita of environmental studies, natural resources and geography at the University of Vermont, Richardson is an expert on sustainable rural community development, environmental negotiation and leadership and regional analysis. As director of the EPIC, a project of the UVM Environmental Program funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Richardson worked with local communities to develop the leadership, resources and vision to rebuild the institutional, economic and human fabric of rural areas. Her book, Partnerships in Communities: Reweaving the Fabric of Rural America (Island Press, 2000) shares lessons gained through her directorship of EPIC and is a handbook for supporting economically and ecologically sustainable agriculture, setting forth comprehensive strategies for locally-based, self-directed community development.

On Thursday, March 25, at 12 noon in the College's Hynson Lounge, the Washington College Academy of Lifelong Learning (WC-ALL), in cooperation with the Center for Environment and Society and Chesapeake Fields Institute, will host the Learn-at-Lunch presentation, “Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Community,” with Dr. Frederick Kirschenmann, director of Iowa State University's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Reservations are required for the luncheon lecture. Individual tickets are $9.50 for WC-ALL members and $12 for non-members. For information and reservations, call Anne Singer at WC-ALL, 410-778-7221. Deadline for reservations is March 22.

Kirschenmann is an advocate for land stewardship and has been hailed as a leader of the organic/sustainable agriculture movement. He has received many national and international appointments, including one to the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Organic Standards Board, and his writings have appeared in various books focused on ethics and agriculture. As much a farmer as a philosopher, Kirschenmann is also president of Kirschenmann Family Farms, a 3,500-acre certified organic farm in North Dakota.

For more information on upcoming concerts and events at Washington College, visitcalendar.washcoll.edu.

Public Forum January 17 At Washington College Shares Results Of The First Rural Communities Leadership Program

Chestertown, MD, January 13, 2004 — The Rural Communities Leadership Program —conducted by Washington College's Center for Environment and Society in collaboration with the University of Maryland's Institute for Governmental Service—will report results and initiatives from its inaugural year at the Grassroots 2 Public Forum, Saturday, January 17, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum.

The program will feature opening remarks from Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, a report from Dr. Wayne Bell, the program's Principal Investigator, facilitated discussion, and an endnote talk on “Planning with a Vision” by Dr. James A. Segedy, Director of Community-Based Projects and Professor of Urban Planning, Ball State University. This is a free, public forum and lunch will be provided, but reservations are necessary. To reserve a seat, call Jean Sucharewicz at Washington College's Custom House, 410-810-7161.

“Rural Communities Leadership is reporting out to the general public in preparation for completion of the project's white paper,” said Bell, who directs the College's Center for Environment and Society. “Like never before, our region faces developmental pressures that threaten its rural character and natural resources. Through the Rural Communities Leadership Program, we have learned that communities on the Eastern Shore can better address these ‘working landscape issues' by developing their own, locally-based grassroots network of leaders and stakeholders. Who is better qualified to guide development that is more compatible with the Shore's special sense of place than the people who work, farm, fish and live here? We hope to share these ideas and invite input from a broad section of the public by means of this forum.”

The Rural Communities Leadership Program was launched in November 2002 with a grant from The W. K. Kellogg Foundation in order to create a model for encouraging and sustaining local leadership and initiatives to maintain the rural character, resource-based economy and heritage of the Eastern Shore. The pilot program hosted monthly meetings throughout 2003 for program participants, who deliberated on issues such as economics, community character, the environment and natural resources. In addition, participants visited several rural communities in the U.S. and abroad to see first-hand how they confronted and resolved similar challenges to those facing the Eastern Shore. Details of the project's activities are posted to the web site of the Center for Environment and Society, ces.washcoll.edu.

Dr. Wayne Bell, Alumna Jill Brewer Take Successes Of Grassroots Rural Community Leadership To Thailand, Nov. 18-21

Chestertown, MD, November 19, 2003 — Dr. Wayne Bell, director of the Washington CollegeCenter for the Environment and Society, and College alumna Jill Brewer '03, are traveling to Bangkok, Thailand to present at the Sixth International Conference on the Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS), November 18-21. Joining the larger Maryland delegation, Bell and Brewer will share results from the first Rural Communities Leadership program for the Eastern Shore, conducted during the first-half of 2003.

“Through discussions held during the Rural Communities Leadership working sessions, we concluded that one of the groups primary findings was that top-down governmental environmental protection programs don't always stick,” said Bell. “They tend to vacillate with the political and economic climate. On the other hand, local programs with a grassroots buy-in tend to be self-sustaining and are more cost-effective for governments. When environmentalism starts locally, through consensus-building in our communities, citizens are more willing to commit to a vision for their quality of life and long-term policies to preserve their local environment.”

Jill Brewer, who helped run the Rural Leadership program while a student last semester, will present these findings and share recommendations with counterparts in other nations. The paper is titled, “A Bio-Regional Approach to the Chesapeake Bay: The Role of the Citizen and Government Involvement in a Watershed-Based Program.” Bell hopes that his EMECS contacts will foster more university exchanges and research opportunities for Washington College students, as well as promote a spirit of cooperation between nations.

“Like no other time in history, we have to think about other people in the world and be open to their concerns—sharing instead of telling and listening in a spirit of cooperation,” said Bell. “The world is getting smaller, and EMECS has set a tone for a cooperative approach to the world's challenges, in this case environmental.”

The biannual EMECS conferences are organized by the International EMECS Center in Kobe, Japan, first established to promote the preservation of Japan's Seto Inland Sea. The EMECS concept developed in the mid-1980s when environmentalists, researchers and policymakers involved with the Chesapeake Bay realized the Bay restoration program was being implemented with little knowledge of the information, methods and results gained by other estuarine and enclosed coastal sea programs in the U.S. and abroad. Concurrently, Governor Toshitami Kaihara of Japan's Hyogo Prefecture had similar concerns while developing initiatives for the environmental restoration of the Seto Inland Sea. Through the cooperation of these two groups, EMECS was founded and now supports a worldwide network concerned with preserving the health and environmental quality of the planet's enclosed coastal seas. The theme of EMECS 2003 is Comprehensive and Responsible Coastal Zone Management for Sustainable and Friendly Coexistence between Nature and People.

Alumna Jill Brewer received her B.A. in sociology from Washington College in May 2003 and was honored that year with the Margaret Horsley Award given annually to the graduating major who has shown in his or her work the clearest understanding of human behavior. She lives in Oregon.

Washington College's Center For The Environment And Society To Develop Rural Communities Leadership Program 2002-2003

Pilot Program Will Support Sustainable Rural Economy, Character for the Shore

Chestertown, MD, September 17, 2002 — The W. K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded Washington College a grant of $100,000 to develop a Rural Communities Leadership Program for the Eastern Shore of Maryland. To be conducted by the College's Center for the Environment and Society in collaboration with the University of Maryland's Institute for Governmental Service, the pilot program, beginning this fall, will become a model for creating and sustaining local leadership in order to encourage and to maintain the rural character, resource-economy and heritage of the Shore.

Widely recognized as a unique environmental and cultural region, the Eastern Shore has been a major agricultural area since Colonial times (the landscape is currently comprised of 53 percent productive farmland), but its proximity to the growing sprawl of the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia corridor has brought related pressures to covert its rural land for development.

“Our region faces the prospect of losing its rural economy and its abundant natural resources due to developmental pressures,” said Dr. Wayne Bell, who is overseeing the project as the Director of the Center for the Environment and Society at Washington College. “The hope is that through the Rural Communities Leadership Program, we can promote the smartest of the smart growth for our region through a network of leaders who represent and are stakeholders of the Eastern Shore's communities.” This network will be grassroots, explained Bell, comprising people from various sectors of the Eastern Shore region—farmers, watermen, community planners, environmentalists, developers and builders, and business people—who understand the region's special sense of place and can coordinate their activities on a regional and local level.

A Community Forum scheduled for November 23, 2002, will launch the pilot program, by identifying and recommending the participants for the initial leadership program council. Beginning in January 2003, participants will meet monthly to deliberate on issues such as economics, community character, the environment and natural resources. In addition, participants will make at least one field trip to see first-hand how other communities have confronted and resolved similar challenges to those facing the Shore. As a pilot study, the participants will assist in evaluating the individual classes and overall program.

“There are two beneficial, long-term results from these leaderships programs,” said Dr. Philip Favero of the Institute for Governmental Service, who will serve at the Program's day-to-day coordinator. “First, individuals' skills and knowledge in the various issues affecting rural communities, from development to the environment, will be increased and enhanced. Secondly, and equally important, are the trusting, cooperative relationships developed between the participants that carry beyond the classes into the communities and their professional positions. This is a longer-term outcome, but one that is absolutely essential so that the knowledge gained will be the basis of region-wide action, policy and planning.”

Washington College students, joined by selected registrants from the Washington College Academy for Lifelong Learning—the college-affiliated adult education program—will participate in the Rural Communities Leadership Program through a special course, “Sustaining Rural Communities,” during the spring 2003 semester. The course and project will be integrated in several ways, but the key will be having the class meet with the program council once a month.

“This project is an example of expanded community engagement of Washington College,” said Bell. “It is a two-way endeavor that creates a professional academic resource for the Eastern Shore and enables students to learn first-hand about outside issues that will challenge them after their graduation.”

The $100,000 grant for this pilot program was W. K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, MI. Established in 1930 by W.K. Kellogg, the cereal industry pioneer, the Foundation has continuously focused on building the capacity of and enabling individuals, communities, and institutions to solve their own problems.

Dr. Wayne Bell Emphasizes the Environment in Science Education at International Coastal Seas Conference

Chestertown, MD, November 9, 2001 — Dr. Wayne Bell, director of the Washington CollegeCenter for the Environment and Society, and Andrew Stein '99, program manager for the Center, will present on the topic "Coastal Seas as a Context for Science Teaching: A Lesson from the Chesapeake Bay," at the Fifth International Conference on the Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS), to be held November 19-23, 2001 in Kobe, Japan. Bell, Stein, and senior Michael Scozzafava '02 will accompany a larger Maryland delegation to the conference.

The presentation, co-authored with student Erin Fowler '01, promotes the use of environmental studies as a comprehensive method to teach science, mathematics and technology to primary and secondary school students. Stein also will be exhibiting at the EMECS Environmental Fair on November 18.

"We in this field have witnessed how environmental studies engenders stewardship," says Bell, "but it is also a great way to teach science."

Bell believes that by using authentic environmental data gathering and analysis techniques in the classroom, environmental studies does not need to remain a "soft" part of science education. Rather, students understanding of fundamental scientific and technological concepts will be enhanced as see "science in action" through environmental projects involving sophisticated instrumentation, compilation of measurements and statistics, and interpretation of data using graphs and satellite imagery.

"Unfortunately, these resources are seldom interpreted for use by K-12 educators, but they need to be," says Bell. "Together with Andrew Stein and Erin Fowler, I have developed an example that uses the Chesapeake Bay as a paradigm to demonstrate how such interpretation can assist educators in teaching important principles in physical oceanography and marine ecology."

Bell also hopes his EMECS contacts will foster more university exchanges for Washington College and promote a greater spirit of cooperation between nations.

"As a nation, we have to begin thinking about other people in the world and be open to their concerns--sharing instead of telling," says Bell. "The EMECS conferences set a tone for approaching the world's environmental problems this way."

The conference is organized by the International EMECS Center in Kobe, Japan, established to promote the preservation of Japan's Seto Inland Sea and the world's enclosed coastal seas through international cooperation and information exchange. The EMECS concept developed in the mid-1980s when environmentalists, researchers and policymakers involved with the Chesapeake Bay realized the Bay restoration program was being implemented with little knowledge of the information, methods and results gained by other estuarine and enclosed coastal sea programs in the U.S. and abroad. Concurrently, Governor Toshitami Kaihara of Japan's Hyogo Prefecture had similar concerns while concluding a successful agreement among 17 Japanese jurisdictions for the environmental restoration of the Seto Inland Sea. EMECS now supports a worldwide network concerned with preserving the health and environmental quality of the planet's enclosed coastal seas. The theme of EMECS 2001 is Toward Coastal Zone Management that Ensures Coexistence Between People and Nature in the 21st Century.

Dr. Wayne Bell to Co-Chair International Conference on Enclosed Coastal Seas

Chestertown, MD, June 5, 2001 — Dr. Wayne H. Bell, director of Washington College'sCenter for Environment and Society, will participate as program planning co-chair for EMECS 2001, the Fifth International Conference on the Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas, to be held November 19-23, 2001 in Kobe, Japan. The conference is organized by the International EMECS Center in Kobe, established to promote the preservation of Japan's Seto Inland Sea and the world's enclosed coastal seas through international cooperation and information exchange.

The EMECS concept developed in the mid-1980s when environmentalists, researchers and policymakers involved with the Chesapeake Bay realized the Bay restoration program was being implemented with little knowledge of the information, methods and results gained by other estuarine and enclosed coastal sea programs. Concurrently, Governor Toshitami Kaihara of Japan's Hyogo Prefecture had similar concerns while concluding a successful agreement among 17 Japanese jurisdictions for the environmental restoration of the nation's Seto Inland Sea. Kaihara sought to maintain the health of his region's principal coastal sea while networking with other researchers, educators and policy makers involved in the management of enclosed coastal sea environments.

"EMECS grew out of a common desire to learn from the experience of others and share what we learned for the benefit of environmental restoration programs throughout the world," said Bell.

Led by the late Dr. Ian Morris, former director of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies (now the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science), an international group was assembled to examine the strengths and weaknesses of similar estuarine and coastal sea projects. Dr. Morris and Governor Kaihara met for the first time in 1987, and from their initial conversations, the EMECS concept was born and ultimately institutionalized by the creation of the International EMECS Center founded by Governor Kaihara in Kobe. EMECS now supports a worldwide network concerned with preserving the health and environmental quality of the planet's enclosed coastal seas.

Bell hopes to make undergraduate education in the environmental sciences an important part of the conference's discussions.

"We have discovered that studying the environment is a great way to teach science to undergraduates," said Bell. "In order to prepare a new generation to tackle the nation's and the world's environmental problems, we have to emphasize education, not only for the public, but for undergraduates interested in becoming environmental scientists, educators and leaders."

Lammot duPont Copeland Professorship, Goldstein Hall Push College Campaign Beyond $66 Million

Chestertown, MD, May 16, 2001 — Washington College has received a bequest from Pamela Cunningham Copeland, coupled with a gift from her daughter, Louisa Copeland Duemling, to provide $500,000 for the establishment of the Lammot duPont Copeland Professorship at theCenter for the Environment and Society, pushing the Campaign for Washington's Collegebeyond $66 million. The gift was matched by The Hodson Trust Challenge that doubles all endowments of $100,000 or more. Dr. Wayne Bell, director of the new Center, will be named the first Lammot duPont Copeland Professor at the College.

Private support for Louis L. Goldstein Hall topped $2 million in April 2001, completing a public/private partnership that included $2 million in matching funds from the State of Maryland. Maryland Governor Parris Glendening delivered the keynote address before a dinner of donors of $1,000 or more to the project on April 20, 2001 at the College. Recent major gifts pushing fundraising for Goldstein Hall past the $2 million mark included $125,000 from Washington College parents, $150,000 from the Booth Ferris Foundation, and $500,000, allocated from an earlier $1 million grant from the Grayce B. Kerr Fund.

"We owe a special thanks for these tremendous gifts to the College," said Jack Griswold, chair of the Campaign for Washington's College. "In addition, the Campaign acknowledges the annual gifts from alumni, parents, and friends which have increased by $500,000. To date this fiscal year, more than $1.4 million has come from these sources in support of the Washington College Fund, and we are grateful to all who are participating."

New Director Takes Message of Chesapeake Bay to World

Chestertown, MD, August 11, 2000 —When Wayne H. Bell, Ph.D., was named director of the Center for the Environment and Society at Washington College in July, he called for the Center to become "a catalyst between the education programs at the College and the community, including the local Chesapeake Bay region, and the world beyond."

Making good on that pledge, Harvard-educated Bell will be a keynote speaker at the International Seminar on Chesapeake 2000, held in Kobe, Japan, August 21 to 24. Chesapeake 2000 is the name of the new Chesapeake Bay Agreement signed this past June by the Chesapeake Executive Council. The Council, which includes the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia and the mayor of Washington, D.C., has committed itself to continued restoration of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Specific goals include improved water quality and restoration and maintenance of balanced ecosystems. If the water quality standards are met as outlined in the agreement, the Bay will be removed from the federal list of impaired waters by 2010.

The seminar is being hosted by the Scientific and Policy Committee of the International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS) Center. EMECS works internationally to bring together scholars, governments officials, industry representatives, and private organizations to resolve problems of bodies of water nearly surrounded by land. The Chesapeake Bay is one of nine major enclosed coastal seas recognized by EMECS. It is the largest and the most biologically diverse estuary in North America.

Dr. Bell will speak to approximately 120 government officials, researchers and private citizens about the Chesapeake 2000 agreement and his scientific point of view. Dr. Bell received both an A.M. in biology and a Ph.D. in marine microbiology from Harvard University. He comes to Washington College from the University of Maryland system where he most recently served as the vice president for external relations and the assistant to the director of special projects at the Center for Environmental Science. "Wayne Bell's public education experience and teacher outreach programs, combined with his extensive knowledge of the Chesapeake Bay, are perfectly suited to the mission of the new Center," said John S. Toll, president of Washington College.

Community outreach is a primary goal of both Chesapeake 2000 and the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society. The Center's mission is "to explore the critical relationship between society and environment...taking the Chesapeake Bay watershed region as [the] primary focus." It will be housed in the historic Chestertown Custom House, currently under restoration. The Custom House is located on the Chester River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.

Support for the Center has come from Ted and Jennifer Stanley, Tom and Barbara Gale, L. Clifford Schroeder and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. The effort is part of the Campaign for Washington's College, now at $61 million. The Center for the Environment and Society is one of three new centers enhancing the Washington College academic program through rigorous, innovative courses and internships, issue analysis, collaborative work with leading scholars, and national community outreach. The other new centers are the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Center for Writing and the Creative Process.

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Lecture March 23

Chestertown, MD — The Chesapeake Bay Watershed's past, present and future will be considered in a lecture by Wayne H. Bell, vice president for external affairs at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. The talk takes place at 7 p.m. on Thursday March 23 in the Litrenta Lecture Hall in Dunning Hall on the campus of Washington College. It is free and open to the public.

Bell combines a scientific background with the ability to translate into plain English important scientific information so that policy makers, educators and interested citizens can understand and use it. He is actively involved in developing and organizing international conferences on the management of coastal seas.

Bell's lecture is sponsored by the McLain Program in Environmental Studies.