Rachel Kaplan, the Samuel Trask Dana Professor of Environment and Behavior at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, has received the 2012 Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award. The annual award honors and encourages the efforts and accomplishments of University of Michigan faculty who serve as effective mentors of doctoral students. Recipients are recognized for service as adviser, teacher, advocate, sponsor and role model. Kaplan joined SNRE in 1973 as an associate professor and has been a professor since 1978. She has a dual appointment in the Department of Psychology within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. In 2000, her work was honored by the school when she was named the Samuel Trask Dana Professor.
Minority professionals have historically been underrepresented in major environmental organizations. A long-term study by SNRE Environmental Justice Professor Dorceta Taylor, published this winter in Environmental Practice, parses apart the stereotype that the field has been slow to diversify because minorities are generally disinterested in environmental careers.
This year's Whittemore Lecture in Landscape Architecture featured a panel discussion on the topic "Landmark Women in Landscape Architecture." The Institute for Research on Women and Gender co-sponsore the lecture with SNRE.
Municipalities and nonprofit organizations from southeast Michigan will be sharing the latest environmental infrastructure know-how this week at a Michigan Green Communities workshop organized by an SNRE master's project team. The workshop will provide an update to the Michigan Green Communities Challenge, a reporting mechanism for communities to track sustainability activity and share information with one another. The Economic Energy Analysis tool make its debut at the workshop.
The School of Natural Resources and Environment received three Addy Awards last week for excellence in creative services during the 2012 Addy Awards ceremony organized by the Ann Arbor Ad Club. SNRE received a Gold Addy—the top award—in the Interactive Media: Online Mobile Websites category for a prospective student website. SNRE's Office of Communications created the site for the school's Office of Academic Programs, which launched it during the fall recruiting season.
Effective communication is a key component of SNRE curriculum, and a major reason for the opening of the first SNRE art gallery. Sara Adlerstein is a research scientist at SNRE, artist and curator for the new Art & Environment Gallery. She hopes that this new mode of communication will resonate with the students and professors, showing them that graphs and charts are not the only modes of viable visual communication.
Out of 10 Michigan Society Postdoctoral Fellows selected university wide this year, two—Kimberley Kinder and Elizabeth Pringle—are affiliated with the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Each is finishing their first of three years as an assistant professor and using funding from the Fellows program to pursue research projects.
The 112th Congress matches the 111th as including the largest number of Hispanic representatives in U.S. history with 31 members: two in the Senate and 29 in the House. According to recent research published by SNRE doctoral student Kerry Ard and Professor Paul Mohai, this diversification may bode very well for pro-environmental policy-making.
An exhibit titled "Natural Patterns" featuring the work of photographer Dave Brenner. Opening September 12 at 4 p.m. in the Ford Commons.
U-M researchers at the School of Natural Resources and Environment will analyze the results of surveys given to about 120 veterans before and after upcoming six-day excursions. While scientific research increasingly shows a strong link between mental health benefits and the natural environment, the Sierra Club wanted to know if its programs, which are offered for free or at reduced costs, were producing the same results. Coordinating the research work at SNRE are Rachel Kaplan, the Samuel Trask Dana Professor of Environment and Behavior, and research scientist Jason Duvall.