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On the lighter side
From a new feature of The Chronicle of Higher Education:
The Academic Life asked several scholars to share their secret (or not so secret) guilty pleasures--their passions outside the classroom and the laboratory. Professional wrestling, anyone? Trolling for Krispy Kremes in the wee hours? Here's what they said....Anne D. Neal, president, American Council of Trustees and Alumni
My particular passion--besides ACTA? That's easy--landscape restoration and design. The Harvard historian Donald Fleming [now emeritus] introduced me to Frederick Law Olmsted in his American intellectual-history course decades ago. And while it was not love at first sight, my passion for Olmsted and his remarkable landscape firm have only grown with time. For the last 15 years, I have dedicated my spare time to learning more about the Olmsted firm, its landscape philosophy, and other prominent landscape architects. And because of this passion, I've served as the co-chairman of the Olmsted Woods restoration at the Washington National Cathedral.
I get real (not guilty!) pleasure from removing "exotic invasives," ending soil compaction, and reducing storm-water runoff. And what started as a volunteer interest has become an academic one: I have taken a night course on landscape restoration and contributed to several scholarly publications, including Ecological Restoration and the Handbook of American Women's History.
Others queried include Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago and Jacob Hacker of Yale.
Posted by cmitchell at September 12, 2007 11:23 AM
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Comments
This is a wonderful linkage, because the physical environment of a campus can contribute greatly to many aspects of education (historical, scientific, aesthetic, and more). Too many colleges and universities fail to appreciate the power of landscape and implement little more than "industrial park" landscaping. This is area that the faculty should be actively involved with, but it's too often left to business managers who (however well intentioned) don't know how to make the campus landscape serve educational purposes.
Posted by: R.J. O'Hara at September 12, 2007 02:31 PM
Olmsted parks -- Central Park in New York and especially Jamaica Pond and nearby Olmsted works in Boston -- have meant a great deal to me, are full of meaning.
I have to say that the landscaping at the University of Oregon, while done on a modest budget, adds immensely to the attractions of the campus. Part of this, of course, is due to the natural environment, but there has been a higher than average level of intelligence involved as well.
Unfortunately, Oregon has a super-abundance of lands which are candidates for ecological restoration, due to the depradations, past and present, of the industrial forest business. One of the many difficulties of Oregon conservatives and Republicans is their brain-dead attitudes about the environment, especially the preservation of natural areas. The same is largely true of the national Republicans and conservatives. This has nothing to do directly with education, of course, except for the association of "conservative" ideas about educational reform.
Posted by: Oregon professor at September 12, 2007 10:40 PM