SYN E R G iES *A U N T C o l l e g e o f A r t s a n d S c i e n c e s P u b l i c a t i o n f o r A l u m n i a n d F r i e n d s . S p r i n g 2 0 0 9

* Mutually advantageous outcomes resulting from the conjunction of distinct elements, efforts, or actions.

A MINIATURE FOREST IN CHILE

Pencils, pens, paperclips, and protrac-tors: these school supplies are nothing new to a UNT student. However, for a student in Afghanistan, materials like these may be difficult to come by. Operation Care, a UNT-based commu-nity project involving the department of Political Science, the American Humanics Student Association, and the American Democracy Project, sought to help by raising money and collecting donations of school sup-plies for distribution in Afghanistan.

Starting on September 23 with the annual PACS fall forum, donations started coming into UNT, helping Operation Care accumulate 22,000 lbs. of goods, as well as $1,050 in cash, that were sent to Afghanistan in February. The 375 backpacks full of supplies were part of the 58,000 lbs. of material – 17 pallets – collected through the nationwide efforts asso-ciated with the event.

Dr. Kimi King, associate professor of political science, oversaw Operation Care. “This kind of project epitomizes what is good about UNT as a place to work and learn because it shows that UNT is a community that cares, recog-nizes need, and reaches out,” she said.

Operation Care began on the UNT campus after King observed a simi-lar project at Tarrant County College. After seeing the success of the project there, she decided that she would im-plement a larger drive at UNT. “UNT, as a public university, has a commit-ment to public service,” King said.

“We’ve been getting students in-volved by having teachers offer ex-

In Vidalina Treviño’s fall 2008 STEP 1 teaching class, part of UNT’s new Teach North Texas (TNT) program, her UNT students were obviously mo-tivated. Before class even began, some had already arrived and were organizing their practice lessons. Paper towels, eye droppers – even snails – started to cover lab tables. Later in the week, they taught these same lessons to actual elementary school students in Denton and Fort Worth. It is this real interaction that makes TNT unique and enjoyable.

Treviño, an experienced secondary school science teacher, is one of two TNT “master teachers” mentoring the students and passing on their love of teaching and its challenges.

A collaborative effort between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education, TNT is a grant-funded program that aims to address the nationwide shortage of math, science, and computer science teachers. TNT began with a $1.4 million grant from the Greater Texas Foundation and a challenge grant of up to $1 million from the National Math and Science Initiative. The program is co-directed by Associate Professor John Quintanilla, Department of Mathematics and Professor Mary Harris, Department of Teach-er Education and Administration.

tra credit,” King explained, “We’ve also been getting help from local sororities, the College of Commu-nity Affairs and Public Service, and the Political Science Department.”

The project culminated on Octo-ber 28 and 29 with an exhibit of digital photographs taken by Af-ghan children and a speech by Lt. Gen. John Bradley (Ret.), who was with the Lamia Afghan Founda-tion. After the event, the donations were taken to the NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Air Force Base where they were packed on a plane go-ing directly to Kabul, Afghanistan.

The cooperation of the U.S. mili-tary with Operation Care was one of its most unique features.

King said, “The involvement of the military was important because they have direct access to the tribal leaders who distribute the school supplies. If this direct access wasn’t available, the supplies might not reach the people who need them. It’s not just the Afghan children who benefit.”

“This project helps put a friendly face on the American forces involved, be-cause it shows that they are there to support Afghan communities. There’s an added bonus of the Afghan com-munities knowing that the supplies came from America, which enhances our national image.”

More information available at www.cas.unt.edu:8000/article.pl?sid=08/09/26/1528253&mode=thread

OPERATION CARE

With a book list comprised of titles like How to Read Comics and Why, The Many Lives of Batman: Criti-cal Approaches to a Superhero and His Media, and Frank Miller’s The

Dark Knight Returns, students in COMM 5840 “Mythic Rhetoric of the American Superhero” were not in a conventional class. Brightly colored comics covered their desks; however, they did not serve as a distraction. Instead, the class used these comics as a basis for discussion.

In late October, Shaun Treat, an assistant professor in the Depart-ment of Communication Studies, led his students in a discussion on the Marvel comic The Black Panther. The Black Panther was the first black superhero, so the conversation

COMICS AND CULTURE

2 Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future * The 2009-10 UNT One Book, One Community selection * Author Jeff Goodell will be on-campus Oct. 6, 2009 * Information at http://vpaa.unt.edu/OneBook/

Robert Avila and fourth grade students at Pecan Creek Elementary School in Denton examine snails and discuss their observations. He and Lauren Robertson, his TNT partner, are major-ing in math at UNT.

Modeled after the innovative UTeach program at the University of Texas at Aus-tin, TNT provides an opportunity for students to explore the teaching profession while earning a math or science degree. Students determine their interest in teaching by taking two free one-credit-hour STEP courses that provide experi-ence in the classroom from the beginning of the program and can be taken as early as freshman year. TNT allows students to work towards their bachelor’s de-gree and teaching certificate at the same time by integrating education courses with content courses in their major.

“Getting actual teaching experience last semester, together with everything we learned in class, was amazing,” said Robert Avila, a senior mathematics major enrolled in the program. “The most enjoyable part of TNT was the actual lessons we were teaching. My partner, Lauren, and I chose a lesson involving live snails. Since it was our first time teaching, I wanted something that would be interest-ing to the kids and would make them want to be involved in the lesson.”

“The kids absolutely loved learning about and experimenting with snails,” Avila said, “and that made teaching much easier. The kids were excited to ask questions and learn more. It was very enjoyable to see the kids eager to learn like that.”

touched upon many racial issues but also some surprising subjects: mythic story arcs, commodity markets, and even the use of the rhetoric of Rev-erend Jeremiah Wright in the recent presidential debate.

It might astonish some that this discussion was generated from The Black Panther; it did not surprise Shaun Treat. He explained, “Superhe-roes provide an interesting inductive study of our culture, as they embody our ideals.”

This isn’t all that they do. Treat added, “They’re also a fun way to introduce students to rhetoric and philosophy. Nietzsche, Lacan, and Jung can be boring to students – until you put them in tights.” Though the course is

unusual, Treat received a lot of sup-port from his department and UNT. He said, “Communication studies is an interdisciplinary field. It is this ability to analyze any subject that has helped me bring so much to my study of comics.” It also helped with “Rhetoric and Politics,” a class notable for including a discussion of Tina Fey’s impersonations of Sarah Palin.

To help his students get access to the comics used in class, Treat formed a partnership with Tim Stoltztus, owner of More Fun Comics. Stotlztus said, “It’s wonderful for me, because not only does it help my store, but it’s really great to know that there are people who care about the comics I’m selling. It’s great to know that they are helping people learn.”

political communication, cultural and media studies, psychoanalysis, free speech issues, and constitutive rhetorics of postmodern civic identi-ties, particularly the rhetoric of char-ismatic leadership.

http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11002

Getting involved in the TNT program and taking STEP 1 has shown Avila the challenges and rewards of teaching. “I have realized that even though it is a lot of work, it is something that I have enjoyed and could see myself doing as a career,” he said.

As a result of Teach North Texas, UNT expects to graduate 60 students a year with teacher certification and bachelor’s degrees in math, science, or computer science.

For more information visit Teach North Texas at www.tnt.unt.edu

This isn’t the only course that UNT offers which might attract students with an interest in comics. In the Eng-lish Department, Marshall Armitor teaches ENGL 3910 “Topics in Ameri-can Literature: Visual Storytelling from the Comics Page to the Graphic Novel,” a class which also applies a critical analysis to comic books.

Due to the level of student interest, the course has been redesigned as a senior-level undergraduate commu-nication studies class to be offered in 2009-2010.

Treat arrived at UNT in 2006, two years after receiving his doctorate degree at Louisiana State University. His research interests focus on rhetorical theory and criticism,

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INSPIRING FUTURE K-12 SCIENCE & MATH TEACHERS

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Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future * The 2009-10 UNT One Book, One Community selection * Author Jeff Goodell will be on-campus Oct. 6, 2009 * Information at http://vpaa.unt.edu/OneBook/

Graduate students Justin Haber and Christine Ida Keller discuss the material.

From the cosmopolitan city of Santiago to the community of Puerto Williams, “the southernmost city in the world” and capital of the Chilean Antarctic Province, a six-member UNT delegation spent a week in early October 2008 exploring and reinforcing the university’s activities and partnerships in Chile. Led by Provost Wendy Wilkins, the group also included Warren Burggren, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Earl Gibbons, associate vice president for international education; Ricardo Rozzi, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies; James Kennedy, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences; and Jay Rodman, director of communication for CAS.

In Santiago, the group met with representatives of two Chilean universities associated with the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, several governmen-tal offices, the office of the Fulbright Commission, and the U.S. Ambassador. Moving south, they visited two biological research stations where UNT has been involved in projects; met with the rector and others at the Universidad de Magallanes (UMAG), UNT’s primary institutional partner in Chile; and had a conversation with the chief-of-staff of the governor of the Magallanes region.

Among the major outcomes of the trip were plans to establish a UNT office on the UMAG campus (inaugurated on December 30, 2008) and a commitment to explore possibilities for UNT-UMAG dual degree programs.

An afternoon visit to the Omora Ethnobotanical Park, a “long-term ecological research” station near Puerto Williams, was one highlight of the trip. The park is the locus of the UNT-Chile Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program’s activities and a central feature of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO-designated area of 49,000 square kilometers of pristine forests, mountains, coastal terrain, tundra, and waterways.

“I’ve been fortunate as a biologist to travel broadly across our planet, but the southern tip of Chile is easily the most intriguing and exotic of the locales I’ve visited– and CAS is there in force!” Warren Burggren

Omora Ethnobotanical Park (“Omora” means “hummingbird” in the language of the local native Yahgan people) is a showcase for the area’s plants and animals. Pedestrian trails have been built throughout the park so visitors can explore the amazingly diverse environment while causing minimal damage. Among those who have aided in the construction, maintenance, and signage in this educa-tional “facility” have been numerous UNT students and faculty who have come on study abroad and research trips. Ironically, the biggest attractions in the park

are some of the smallest organisms – mosses, lichens, and liverworts. Rozzi, who has been a guiding force behind the development of Omora – as well as for the UNESCO recognition of the biosphere reserve – led the tour, joined by numerous Chilean colleagues. The nature trails allow visitors to see the variety of trees and shrubs, and wooden signs depict plants as well as the typical species of animals. Many species are identified in multi-lingual fashion, with Latin, Spanish, English, and native Yahgan terms.

The star attractions, for ecologists and ecotourists, are what Rozzi has labeled the “miniature forests,” the unique and diverse collection of small moss, lichen, liverwort, and bryophyte species found only in this Sub-Antarctic area.

“Tourism with a hand-lens allows you to discover that in Cape Horn small is beautiful, diverse, and essential.” Ricardo Rozzi

Rozzi and Omora Park were recently honored by the Foundation for Scientific Symbiosis in the Netherlands with the 2008 Science and Practice of Ecology and Society Award. The award, which includes being featured in the journal Ecology and Society and a 1,000 euro stipend, is given annually to an individual or organization that successfully brings together different scientific fields to close the gap between ecology and society. On Rozzi’s behalf, the award money will be given to the Center for Environmental Philosophy in UNT’s Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies as a contribution to the UNT-Chile Sub- Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program.

UNT DELEGATION EXPLORES CHILEAN PARTNERSHIPS

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UNT environmental philosopher Ricardo Rozzi, left, explains details about the ecology of Chile’s Senda Darwin Research Station to members of the UNT delegation. Pictured from left are Earl Gibbons, associate vice president for international education; Dinah Arnett, U.S. Embassy coordinator for “American Corners” in Chile; Jim Kennedy, professor of biological sciences; Warren Burggren, dean of CAS; and Wendy Wilkins, UNT provost.

UNT is a world leader in the field of environmental philosophy, a status that is enhanced by this unique project at the southern tip of South America.

* UNT-Chile Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation program website: www.chile.unt.edu/ * See a related story in UNT Research Magazine Spring 2009: www.unt.edu/untresearch/2008-2009

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CAS FACULTY LEAD RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS

CAS has significant faculty involvement in other groups receiving support through this initiative: Autism Spectrum Disorders and Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts (iARTA), the other two fully-funded clusters; Human Health and Sustainable Environment; Multi-Scale Damage, Lifetime Prediction and Design of Materials; and Immigrant Studies (the theme of a proposed research center).

Funds from the initiative will support the hiring of many new faculty members, including senior level researchers with national and international reputations, as well as the improvement of infrastructure vital to the research objectives.

“We're focusing our investment in areas that will produce results," Wilkins said. "UNT will be the leader in these areas, and we're confident enough of our ability to succeed that we are willing to invest millions of dollars."

Beyond raising UNT’s profile as an emerging research uni-versity, the initiative is an attempt to help strengthen the state's economy, bolster research, and develop technology vital to addressing today's most pressing needs.

Synergies will feature the work of specific research clusters as they expand their research and achieve tangible results.

For research cluster news, visit: www.research.unt.edu/news/researchcluster.htm and www.research.unt.edu/news/announcementsevents.htm

In her fall 2008 convocation address, UNT President Gretchen Bataille announced a bold plan to support several areas of UNT’s cross-disciplinary research strength through $25 million in internal funding for faculty “research clusters” selected through a competitive proposal process. Of the 37 proposals submitted, six were selected to receive full funding, two additional ones are receiving seed funding, and a ninth will be considered for center development.

CAS faculty members are the leaders of four of the six funded primary research clusters:

Bio/Nano-Photonics (led by Mohammad Omari in Chemistry)

Developmental Physiology and Genetics (led by Ione Hunt von Herbing in Biological Sciences)

Materials Modeling (led by Thomas Cundari in Chemistry)

Signaling Mechanisms in Plants (led by Kent Chapman in Biological Sciences)

The UNT group and their Chilean colleagues learn about traditional Yahgan housing practices on the shores of the Beagle Channel. They are standing on a midden, a mound made up largely of mussel shells discarded by generations of residents. The poles form the frame of an “akar,” a tent-like structure made from branches of evergreen beech and sea lion pelts.

Photos: Jay Rodman

* UNT-Chile Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation program website: www.chile.unt.edu/ * See a related story in UNT Research Magazine Spring 2009: www.unt.edu/untresearch/2008-2009

Photos: Jay Rodman

An aquatic ecologist takes students to southern Chile to inventory and catalog freshwater insects; an en-vironmental philosopher spends a sabbatical in France working with UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme; a documentary film-maker works with partners around the world to create a film about people and rivers; a team of eco-toxicologists investigates risks (and perceptions of risks) of chemicals such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals in our fresh-water supplies; a writer composes a poem about a flood. What they and many others have in common is they are College of Arts and Sciences fac-ulty members and they have valuable things to say about one of our most important and threatened resources – water.

Any discussion of water research at UNT, at least among folks who have been at the institution very long, inevitably touches on the legacy of J.K.G. “Doc” Silvey. He was hired on at UNT when it was officially North Texas State Teachers College in 1935 as an assistant professor with a specialty in limnology, the study of freshwater conditions. He served as the chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1952 to 1973.

Ken Dickson, a now-retired profes-sor of biological sciences at UNT, is a former student of Silvey’s. He said Silvey had a profound impact on the lives and careers of countless students. “‘Doc’ Silvey excelled as a teacher, researcher, administrator, motivator, mentor, and friend. He was incomparable as an educator, did re-search for practically every water util-

ity in this part of Texas, and helped to mentor scores of today’s medical professionals and environmental re-searchers,” Dickson said.

In addition to establishing a nation-ally and internationally recognized water research program, his most notable accomplishment during his tenure as chair may be founding the Center for Environmental Studies in 1970 (now the Institute of Applied Sciences).

Silvey retired in 1977 as a Distin-guished Professor Emeritus. He died in December 1989.

Some of the Major PlayersThomas La PointThomas La Point directs the UNT Experimental Stream Facility and is a former director of the Institute of Ap-plied Sciences. A biologist by training, he considers himself to be a classic case of interdisciplinarity, although his current work could be termed “eco-toxicology.” Much of his focus is on the Trinity River watershed, and his re-search takes place at the stream facil-ity located at the Denton Wastewater Treatment Plant on Pecan Creek. The facility includes 12 artificial streams where aquatic insects, fathead min-nows, and other organisms are used in the study of water conditions. The water in the streams is treated sew-age effluent, the same effluent that eventually goes into Lake Lewisville,

Confluence: Water Research and Related Activities

On April 25, 2008, UNT dedicated a bronze statue of Dr. J. K.G. “Doc” Silvey, the chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1952 to 1973. The statue is located in front of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building. David Iles, a UNT alumnus who had previously created a series of Texas wildlife pieces that grace the grounds of the EESAT Building, sculpted the Silvey statue. It features the professor examining the contents of a beaker, surrounded by a tackle box, microscope, water sampler, and fishing net containing a large-mouth bass. Money for the $40,000 statue was jointly raised by the Department of Biological Sciences, the Institute of Applied Science and the J. K.G. Silvey Society.

a main source of drinking water for Dallas and Denton. La Point and his colleagues (a.k.a. the “Stream Team”) add common environmental chemi-cals such as nickel (which enters the environment from vehicle emissions and coal burning) to the water in the artificial streams and monitor the ef-fects on the organisms.

La Point’s recent interest is pharma-ceutical residue in the water supply, and he is conducting research with Duane Huggett, a mechanistic toxi-cologist in biological sciences.

La Point is currently working on a new book, Flushed and Back Again: A Tale of Water Reuse.

Thomas La Point, professor of biological sciences, directs the UNT Ex-perimental Stream Facility, located at Denton’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on Pecan Creek. He has been involved in monitoring water quality at the site since the late 1990s.

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* CAS QUIZ: How many departments were included in CAS when it was created in 1945? What are their names? * SUBMIT ANSWERS TO: cassynergies@unt.edu for a chance to win special prizes.

Confluence: Water Research and Related Activities

Ken DicksonKen Dickson joined UNT in 1978, one of many water scientists that “Doc” Silvey brought into the Department of Biological Sciences during his tenure as chair. For Dickson, it was a return to his alma mater; he had worked with Silvey while at UNT as an undergraduate and a master’s degree student. In 1979, he was asked to di-rect the Institute of Applied Sciences, a position he filled for more than 20 years. During his time as director,

James KennedyJames Kennedy began his career at UNT in 1987, where he was part of a team that was hired to develop UNT’s Water Research Field Station. This facility, located west of Denton near the Rafes Urban Astronomy Center, is a 40 acre site with replicated ponds originally used to study the impacts of pesticides on aquatic ecosystems. These days the facility is used to conduct basic ecological research. Kennedy’s research program focuses on five areas: stream ecology, aquatic

insect biology, biodiversity studies, the use of macroinvertebrates in the ecological risk assessment process, and environmental education. Most of this research incorporates graduate students and advanced undergradu-ates and nearly all of it involves the use of aquatic invertebrates. In addi-tion, Kennedy serves as the director of the Elm Fork Education Center and runs the Department of Biological Sciences’ Natural Heritage Museum. He is also involved in research and

[Editor’s Note: The people featured in this article are representative of a great historical tradition and broad current strength at UNT. In researching this article, I found that most of the subjects made reference to additional people, past and present, whose work is also important. Interested readers are invited to explore beyond this article, on the UNT website.]

educational activities in Chile through UNT’s Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Con-servation Program. He co-leads UNT “wintermester” classes in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, conducts watershed research on the Robalo River, the source of fresh water for the city of Puerto Williams, and serves on the graduate faculty at the Universi-dad de Magallanes, where the biocul-tural conservation program is based. [See separate article on the UNT-Chile program on p. 4.]

the EESAT Building was designed and built and the Environmental Sciences Program was created with master’s and PhD degree options. Subsequently, he established and directed the Elm Fork Education Cen-ter. Located in the EESAT Building, the center is one of the university’s primary outreach initiatives, provid-ing science education experiences to over 15,000 school children each year. Officially retired, but still work-ing part time at UNT, Dickson now fo-cuses on promoting public education about water issues in the Metroplex. He was instrumental in creating the “Upper Trinity Watershed Partners” group that promotes networking and capacity building among area water educators.

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Ken Dickson can frequently be found at EESAT, built during his tenure as director of the Institute of Applied Sciences.

Jim Kennedy has taken graduate and undergraduate students to Chile on several occasions, where they participate in research on stream ecology. This photo, taken in January 2008, shows him standing on the right-hand bank of the Robalo River holding a measuring tape. He and his team were measuring the width of the stream in preparation for calculating its discharge.

* CAS QUIZ: How many departments were included in CAS when it was created in 1945? What are their names? * SUBMIT ANSWERS TO: cassynergies@unt.edu for a chance to win special prizes.

Ruthanne “Rudi” ThompsonOriginally loaned to UNT by the Den-ton Independent School District to provide input on the design of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology (EESAT) Building, Rudi Thompson became a key staffer for the Elm Fork Education Center she had helped to develop. She went on to earn her doctorate in curriculum and instruction in the Department of Education and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Bio-logical Sciences.

Thompson’s area of specialization is science education and she runs the department’s Science Education Research Laboratory. She recently began a five-year $1.7 million project for the City of Dallas on conservation behavior, specifically focusing on re-cycling and water conservation. She and her crew are developing training

materials and processes for some 500 teachers and K-12 curricular materials tied to TEKS (Texas Essential Knowl-edge and Skills) educational stan-dards. (The middle school recycling and water conservation modules she is taking to Dallas schools this year will reach 10,000 students.)

In addition to the above, she and her colleagues are conducting research assessing the effectiveness of their educational activities. Thompson is also deeply involved in UNT’s new TNT (Teach North Texas) program, designed to increase the number and quality of UNT graduates prepared to teach science, math, and technol-ogy subjects [See TNT article on p. 2.], as well as an NSF-funded cyber infrastructure research project and a sustainable schools project funded by the State Energy Conservation Office.

Irene KlaverIrene Klaver, an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, is a special-ist in cultural, social-political, and ethical dimensions of water. Since 2003 she has directed UNT’s Philoso-phy of Water Project, funded in part by an $800,000 grant from the Dixon Water Foundation in Dallas. Project funds support research, courses, film/art projects, and a biennial con-ference, WaterWays – Confluence of Art, Science, Policy and Philosophy. The conference attracts scientists, politicians, philosophers, artists, managers, and specialists to explore water issues across boundaries. The third WaterWays conference is planned for March 2010.

Klaver is a member of the Water and Cultural Diversity Expert Advisory Group of UNESCO’s International Hy-drological Programme and is also involved in UNESCO’s Man and Bio-sphere Program, through which she and UNESCO colleague Ishwaran Natarajan are developing the River Cultures – Ecological Futures ini-tiative. The initiative focuses on

Confluence: Water Research and Related Activities

social-cultural dimensions of inte-grated water resource management along river basins.

Klaver has been heavily involved in the Global Rivers documen-tary project. She and Melinda Levin co-directed the Rio Grande section of the film, a project that was inspired by the River Cultures – Ecological Futures initiative.

Klaver lectures and teaches widely on water issues and recently spent the fall 2008 semester on leave in Paris as a UNESCO Visiting Research Fellow. She is one of the editors of the History of Water and Civilization, a UNESCO benchmark reference book series to inform water management using insights from the past.

For more on the Philosophy of Water Project, see www.water.unt.edu

UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme expert advisory group on water and cultural diversity: www.unesco.org/water/ihp/pdf/water_cul-tural_diversity08.pdf]

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Rudi Thompson, standing, runs workshops for educators on water conservation and recycling, funded by a $1.7 million grant from the City of Dallas. She is demonstrating a watershed model for Dallas area teachers.

Irene Klaver’s involvement in water issues extends beyond her faculty role; she takes frequent walks with her dog, Ayse, around a pond at North Lakes Park in Denton.

* News Flash 3/29/09: Kuntal Cholera, senior economics major, named top speaker of 2009 National Debate Tournament. * He is the first UNT student, and first Texas student since 1987, to win this prestigious award.

Melinda LevinMelinda Levin, chair of the Department of Radio, Television and Film, doesn’t claim to be a “water specialist,” she is a documentary filmmaker and theorist who also happens to be an executive producer of Global Rivers, a major interna-tional high-definition documentary production.

As the name suggests, the film features various rivers around the world, but it is about the people affected by the rivers as much as it is about the rivers themselves. “In a sense, it is a poem, a story of the people living near these rivers,” said Levin. “In terms of the cultural impact of rivers, we touch on aspects of ritual, play, work, community, and family interaction, to name a few. ” The film also explores the ecological, economic, and political significance of these rivers – and by extension of rivers everywhere.

A short version of the film premiered in Beijing in November 2008 at the annual meeting of the Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinema et de Television (CILECT), an international organization of schools with film and television programs and partial funder of the project. That version included segments on five major world rivers – the Missis-sippi and Rio Grande in North America, the Amazon in South America, the Danube in Europe, and the Ganges in South Asia. Footage about three addi-tional rivers, the Los Angeles River in California, the Mekong in Southeast Asia, and the Nile in Northern Africa, will be included in the final product.

The concept for this project grew, in part, out of River Cultures – Ecological Futures, a UNESCO-supported project initiated by environmental philosopher Irene Klaver, director of UNT’s Philosophy of Water Project. The scope and direction were largely defined in meetings Levin and the other two executive producers held in California with the Big Sur Environmental Institute.

Levin, who has been involved in most aspects of the project, emphasizes the highly collaborative nature of this endeavor. She directed the filming of the Rio Grande component, working closely with Klaver and incorporating stu-dents into the process. Colleagues at a number of U.S. and foreign universi-ties directed the segments about other rivers. And “supporting actors” have included various other entities, including industry partners Panasonic, which provided high-definition digital cameras for the project, and Avid Technologies, which provided support for developing the workflow process for this uniquely complex and high-tech project.

For more about Global Rivers, including video clips and still photos, visit the UNT website feature at www.unt.edu/features/globalrivers/index.htm

Melinda Levin, operating camera, and Irene Klaver are shown shooting footage for the Global Rivers documentary from the rim of Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, New Mexico.

Levin, shown kneeling on a truck cab roof, films potatoes being loaded for transport. She had traveled to the San Juan Valley of southern Colorado, where massive amounts of water are piped in from the Upper Rio Grande to irrigate the crops.

Global Rivers:Documenting River Cultures

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* News Flash 3/29/09: Kuntal Cholera, senior economics major, named top speaker of 2009 National Debate Tournament. * He is the first UNT student, and first Texas student since 1987, to win this prestigious award.

* CAS QUIZ: Who was the “founding dean” of the College of Arts and Sciences?

After earning UNT degrees in biology and environmental science (’94, ’96 MS, ’99 PhD), Kenneth Banks has managed to put his expertise to work locally – he has served the City of Denton for the past seven years as watershed protection manager and water resources coordinator, and has been manager of the Divi-sion of Environmental Quality for four years. In all of these capacities, he has been deeply involved in water issues, and now has supervisory responsibility for the city’s Water Pretreatment Division, Water/Wastewater Laboratory, Wa-tershed Protection Division, Storm Water Division, and utility special projects.

“Denton is a university town, and is well known for music, outdoor festivals, and its downtown atmosphere, as well as for scientific research. Denton is also a rapidly growing city, and is facing substantial challenges.... These factors combine to make Denton’s environment unique, and make environmental management in Denton challenging and exciting,” he said recently.

“I think that humans are obligated to be good stewards of the environment.”

“My time at UNT prepared me well for this kind of work environment,” Banks continued. “The education, training, and experience provided in the Envi-ronmental Science Program at UNT were very broad, and provided a very good educational base that allowed me to branch out into other areas.”

Not only did UNT prepare Banks for his work, UNT has also partnered with him. Banks explains, “I have been involved in many collaborative research projects with UNT and former UNT students. These collaborations have allowed Denton to participate in research projects involving emerging issues in water, wastewater, storm water, and watershed management.”

Among many accomplishments, Banks oversaw the development of the first watershed protection plan accepted by the Texas Commission on Environmen-tal Quality for an unimpaired water body. Since water that flows through the drainage infrastructure of Denton ends up in Lake Lewisville, Denton’s primary drinking water supply, this was an important project for Denton’s citizens.

The work is in line with Banks green attitudes, he said. “I think that humans are obligated to be good stewards of the environment. This is crucial due to our own intrinsic needs for ecosystem services, as well as the need to ensure that we preserve the environment.”

For more on the City of Denton Division of Environmental Quality visit: http://www.cityofdenton.com/pages/govdeptsutilsenvirodivision.cfm

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We’d love to hear from and about all of our alumni. We will feature alumni stories in our pages from time to time and invite you to suggest stories by e-mailing us at cassynergies@unt.edu

We would also like to point out that the North Texan magazine features alumni news. Class note information can be e-mailed to north_texan@unt.edu or submitted via the website at www.unt.edu/northtexan

And the UNT Alumni Association (formerly the North Texas Exes) has developed an exciting social networking tool specifically for UNT alumni, UNT inCircle.

For more information, go to www.untalumni.net

CAS Alumni News Features

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Confluence: Kenneth Banks – Knowledge at Work THE LAST GREAT FLOOD LOCK HAVEN, PENNSYLVANIA

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* Submit answers to cassynergies@unt.edu for a chance to win special prizes.

We live on the floodplain

where waterfowl are plentiful

and news is mostly minor:

two deaths, a marriage.

People here know disaster

comes every twenty-some years

down the old route of logs

and immigrants. It watermarks

the diner walls, chalked high

as a boast, hangs in photographs

of ripped silos, power wires

where they broke and sputtered,

flailing into the wet street.

Not to mention the unmooring

of dumpsters and cars, Christ

Church humbled to a single story,

or the crippled spillway

of the courthouse bridge,

how the water rose to skim

and crack it, then slowly drown

the thing entire. And all along

the forest highway, perched

above stench and tumble

of the mist: the sudden cliffs

that shuddered and slipped,

gone the way of their deep

foundation. Unlikely still,

which is how we bear it,

own it even, why we stare

beside the blackened banks

as if to salvage some stray

doll or pair of glasses,

some swollen book. It pulls us

in, the flotilla of obscurities,

how the graves washed

open upstream, the cow

that caught the radio tower

and would not tear away.

Slow to forget, slower still

to fathom, as if each version

of the deluge held something back,

a trace inside the petulant

cloud and thunder, a bloom

of silt to ghost the broken

dragnets of the trees.

Like any story we tell to death,

ours had a little future in it.

Leave it to the bowed heads

of idleness and prayer

what grand design or indifference

surged that day, what darkened

the erasure that was our street.

Leave it to some deferred

explanation, some covenant

as sure as the flood itself.

Leave it behind if you can:

the pools of sludge that mortified

beneath the blue absolution

of the sun. Our piles of trash

rose tall as houses then. Still

it testifies to the beauty here,

to the long braid of parenthood

and poverty that make it hard

to leave. For the river carries little

now in the way of logs and profit.

Even as the airplane factory

dragged its bad steel to Jersey

for scrap, and the trains resumed,

passing through without a whistle,

we stayed on by the stream

of burials and marriage, faith

and the river that is its cure.

Bruce Bond is Regents Professor of English on the creative writing faculty at the University of North Texas and poetry editor for “American Literary Review.”

Bond¹s collections of poetry include “Blind Rain” (LSU, 2008), “Cinder” (Etruscan Press, 2003), “The Throats of Narcissus” (University of Arkansas, 2001), “Radiography” (BOA Editions, 1997), “The Anteroom of Paradise” (QRL, 1991), and “Independence Days” (Woodley Press, 1990). His poetry has appeared in “Best American Poetry,” “The Yale Review,” “The Georgia Review,” “Raritan,” “The New Republic,” “The Virginia Quarterly,” “Poetry,” and many other journals.

“The Last Great Flood” was previously published in “The Missouri Review” (1992).

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by Bruce BondTHE LAST GREAT FLOOD LOCK HAVEN, PENNSYLVANIA

NEWS@10: UNT Astronomy

New TechnologyAmong the high-tech improvements is the modernization of the Sky The-ater, UNT’s planetarium. This unique 100-seat, 40-foot domed theater features the newly installed state-of-the-art Digistar III projection system which can reproduce the night sky with digital precision. Complement-ing this enhancement in viewing capability is a new “surround sound” system, offering concert level sound quality.

“I’d like to develop the Sky Theater as a visualization lab,” says Dilulio, also known as ‘Starman.’ “There’s an opportunity here, with the Digistar system, to create not only interdis-ciplinary projects within the college –but projects that have different col-leges working together.” Projected up on the Sky Theater’s dome, current video clips of astronomy concepts, Van Gogh paintings, and abstract im-ages set to rock music provide a wild ride to those fortunate to view them.

New FacilitiesUNT’s astronomy facilities are wide-spread. The Sky Theater and computer labs are located in the UNT Environ-mental Education Science and Tech-nology Building in Denton. UNT also operates the Monroe Robotic Obser-vatory near Gainesville and the Rafes Urban Astronomy Center (RUAC), located west of the Denton airport.

A function of RUAC is to provide the observatory labs for astronomy students, and its equipment includes four 14” diameter telescopes featur-ing the latest in GPS technology.

Offering services to the community is another main aspect of RUAC, which recently added the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Amphitheater viewing area. DiIulio says “The new seating will make our facility more attractive for groups wanting to hold ‘star parties’ at the center.” RUAC is already the site of monthly public viewing sessions.

New ProgrammingUNESCO and the International Astro-nomical Union have declared 2009, the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first astronomical observations with a telescope, to be the International Year of Astronomy. DiIulio confirms that there will be a robust set of events and displays aligned with the world-wide celebration.

For more information about UNT’s Astronomy Program, visit the website at www.astronomy.unt.edu/

* Attend free monthly public “Star Parties” at RUAC, first Saturday nights: www.astronomy.unt.edu

New PersonnelWith 1,500 students active annually, UNT has one of the largest astronomy lab programs in the country. But until now it has lacked a tenure-track research astronomer.

“This program has a solid educational outreach dimension, an impressive technological dimension, and I’m here to complete the program with an active research dimension,” says recent addition to the physics faculty, Ohad Shemmer.

Shemmer, who received his PhD from Israel’s Tel Aviv University in 2004, researches multi-wave-length active galactic nuclei (AGN). A cosmologist as well as observational astronomer, he studies properties of super massive black holes as he seeks to understand the evolution of galaxies.

Completing the Astronomy Program team, Preston Starr recently moved from another position in the Depart-ment of Physics to become observa-tory manager, with responsibility for the Rafes and Monroe facilities.

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The Astronomy Program in the Department of Physics celebrates its ten-year anniversary in 2008-2009 with new facilities, new technology, and new faculty and staff members. All this in addition to some mind-bending video being produced by Ron DiIulio, director of the UNT astronomy laboratory program, and his team.

Photo: Ron DiIulio

Photo: Randall Peters & Preston Starr

* For more about College of Arts and Sciences programs, people, news, and events, visit www.cas.unt.edu

Construction is well underway on the $33.2 million Life Sciences Complex, a four-story structure with 87,000 square feet of space that will connect with the existing Biology Building. The new high-tech research facility will contain office and lab space for biology faculty in biochemistry and molecular biology; developmental physiology and genetics; and plant science.

Major features of the new building, slated to be substantially completed by mid-2010, include a climate-con-trolled rooftop research greenhouse, a dedicated research aquatics lab in-corporating large fresh water and salt water facilities, and an open research laboratory concept to promote collab-orative activities.

The Department of Biological Sciences undergraduate advising and admin-istrative offices will be relocated as one component of a renovated 3,000 square foot area in the current Biol-ogy Building section adjacent to the new structure’s atrium/gallery space.

In line with UNT’s “We Mean Green” campus sustainability efforts, the project has been designed to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Envi-ronmental Design) “Gold Certification” status. This involved extensive recy-cling of materials from Masters Hall, the previous building on that site, as well as incorporation of sustainable features in the new structure.

The architect for the project is the firm of Perkins+Will and the building contractor is Thos. S. Byrne, LTD.

LIFE SCIENCES COMPLEX TAKES SHAPE

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Supporting the Work of the College of Arts and SciencesMany of the projects and initiatives covered in CAS SYNERGIES depend on the support of alumni and friends to achieve their full potential. From the new Life Sciences Complex, the Teach North Texas Program, and the Texas State Historical Association endowed chair to the UNT- Chile Project, the creative and performance activities of faculty and students, the expansion of the Astronomy Program, and the important water-oriented research, opportunities abound for giving to the College of Arts and Sciences.

For information on how you can participate, please contact: • Stan Walker, Senior Director of Major Gifts, College of Arts & Sciences, stanw@unt.edu, 940-565-2342 or 940-565-4907 • Brian White, Director of Development, College of Arts and Sciences, brian.white2@unt.edu, 940-369-5217 • Warren Burggren, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, burggren@unt.edu, 940-565-2497

As construction progresses, the De-partment of Biological Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences are actively seeking support from alumni and friends to enhance the educa-tional and research activities that will take place in the new building.

To follow the construction progress and find out more details about the project, and how you can play a part, visit the Life Sciences Complex website at www.biol.unt.edu/lsc

Images courtesy of Perkins+Will

✪The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is alive and well, and comfortabe in its new Stovall Hall offices, according to Kent Calder, new executive director. Long regarded as the nation’s most dynamic regional history organization, TSHA made news in fall 2007 as it parted ways with the University of Texas in Austin after 110 years. As the organization considered its future, partnering with UNT emerged as a win-win arrangement for both entities. UNT’s Department of His-tory arguably has the strongest faculty research focus on Texas history at any university and UNT historians have played a strong role in TSHA for decades. TSHA’s official occupancy of its new UNT quarters began in November 2008.

TSHA has a long history of publications and it is no accident that their new of-fices are next door to UNT Press. The association’s publication projects include the Handbook of Texas and the Handbook of Texas Online, the Southwest-ern Historical Quarterly, the Texas Almanac (recently donated by the Dallas Morning News), and scores of books on myriad topics. The association also fosters educational activities, such as Texas History Day, incorporating student essay competitions, documentary productions, performances, and exhibits.

TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION MOVES INRecent TSHA news has featured two UNT Department of History faculty members, both of whom are also TSHA Fellows: Randolph “Mike” Campbell, past president of the organization and author of several books on Texas his-tory, including the popular Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State, was named TSHA’s chief historian; and Richard B. McCaslin, chair of the depart-ment, learned that his book At the Heart of Texas: 100 Years of the Texas State Historical Association, 1897-1997 had been selected for the Philosophical Society of Texas Award of Merit for 2007.

Current collaborations with the Department of History include the April 18 Texas History Symposium on the UNT campus and, in the longer term, raising money for an endowment to create a “TSHA Chair in Texas History,” which would reside in the Department of History.

Previous coverage of the evolving UNT-TSHA relationship can be found in the “North Texan” at www.unt.edu/northtexan/archives/p08/gonetonorthtexas.htm and “UNT Research” at www.unt.edu/untresearch/2007-2008/txhistory.htm For the latest information about TSHA, visit www.tshaonline.org/

PERFECT PERFORMANCE

* Fran Vick, TSHA’s 2008-09 president, received the 2008 Humanities Texas Award in March 2009.

“Contagion: Or, the Sad Case of a Performance Art Critic” Little known beyond its home unit and its faculty’s professional sphere, performance art programming in the Department of Communication Studies includes the adaptation of written works for theatrical enactment. Directed by Justin Trudeau, assistant professor of performance studies, Contagion is based on an H.G. Wells short story, “The Sad Case of a Drama Critic.” Six performances, featuring a cast of students in the major, were presented in the department’s small black box space in November 2008. This photo of cast members doing fish faces emphasizes the “floppy” personality of Egbert, the protagonist, seen here in his yellow chicken persona. Visit www.comm.unt.edu/events_fp.htm

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“The Pearl” John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl,” a novella about good luck gone bad, has been widely read, but its dramatic version by Warren Frost is not well known. A production of the play was directed by Timothy Wilson, professor in the Department of Dance and Theatre, and developed in cooperation with Arvind Singh, a documentary film master’s student in the Department of Radio, Television and Film. This unique collaboration, according to Wilson, “has brought a new depth to understanding the power and po-tential for blending film with stage actors, movement, and music. The collaboration with student designers, artists, and actors has been incred-ibly fulfilling.”

Photo: Amanda Breaz

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* Synergies will have an expanded web-based counterpart soon at www.cas.unt.edu/synergies

“En I Mi” (Part I Revision II) UNT dance students perform Shelley Cushman’s “En I Mi,” a work about war set to a mix of music by Jesse Coulter and Brian Eno. Cushman, a professor in the Department of Dance and Theatre, was invited to present the work at the summer 2008 National College Dance Festival in New York City. A benefit performance on campus in the spring helped defray travel expenses of the student performers. Part I of the work, which Cushman says “introduces war as senseless killing, while echoing all past lives lost in wars throughout time,” was one of three pieces representing the South Central region at the biennial national festival.

A schedule of dance and theatre events is at www.danceandtheatre.unt.edu/now_index.htm

Photo: ©Marcelo Carlos

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On January 14, 2004 then-President George W. Bush announced that NASA would return to the Moon to establish a permanent base as a step toward the eventual exploration of Mars. Other countries, including China, plan to establish bases on the Moon as well, and private companies plan to take rich tourists to the Moon in the near future to visit the Apollo landing sites. Unfortunately, this ac-tivity on the Moon will take place in a totally unregulated manner because the spaceflight-capable nations have refused to ratify the Moon Treaty, not wanting to have limitations placed on their activities by other nations who may never venture into space.

As a result, the stage is now set for what may turn out to be the largest and most obvious example of envi-ronmental degradation in the history of humankind, one that we will be reminded of every night that we look into the sky for generations to come. The biggest issue will be strip mining. Because of the high cost of lifting ma-terial up to the Moon, NASA and the space agencies of other countries will try to “live off of the land” as much as possible. Rather than transporting fuel to the Moon, they will strip mine the Moon to harvest hydrogen. It is estimated that a football-field-sized area, four feet deep, will be needed to produce the fuel needed for one

lift-off from the Moon. In a short time, the look of the Moon as it appears from Earth could be altered forever in a very horrendous way as more and more of the surface is ground up and processed to make fuel.

We humans could avoid turning the Moon into a permanent monument to human environmental despoliation by a little careful planning. Given that the bases will be built at the poles, mining could be done on the backside where the results would not be visible from Earth. This approach would fol-low the model of many mountains in the Rockies which are beautiful tourist attractions on one side and depleted mining districts on the other.

To protect the visible side, in light of the failure of the Moon Treaty, a world heritage site could be established un-der UNESCO. This area could then be governed by representatives of the space-faring nations, with the size of the committee increasing as more na-tions venture into space. This collective self-regulation might provide adequate protection for the Moon if all members have to agree before an action is per-mitted. In any event, it would be better than nothing, the current situation.

OP-ED: LUNAR ETHICS

Because there are no living organisms or ecosystems on the Moon, the bio-logical side of environmental ethics does not apply. The fundamental issue is environmental aesthetics: whether the Moon will be an eyesore in the sky or an international treasure on the model of Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon. What we do with the Moon will determine who and what we are environmentally and will remind us every night forever.

—Gene Hargrove

This piece is based on a presentation by the author at a NASA Lunar Science Conference held at the NASA Ames Re-search Center. Hargrove, professor and former chair of the UNT Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, has worked on ethical issues related to the space program since 1985 and edited “Beyond Spaceship Earth: Environ-mental Ethics and the Solar System” (Sierra Club Books, 1986). He is also the founding editor of “Environmen-tal Ethics,” the first journal in the field, author of “The Foundations of Environmental Ethics” (Prentice-Hall, 1989), and director of the Center for Environmental Philosophy at UNT.

Feedback:We welcome your comments about this Op-Ed column and hope to include a lively discussion on the “Synergies” website. We also invite your ideas for future topics &/or guest writers for the “Synergies” opinion feature. Please e-mail your comments and suggestions to cassynergies@unt.edu

College of Arts and Sciences 1155 Union Circle #305189 University of North Texas Denton, TX 75203-5017 USA

Welcome!Welcome to Synergies, our new College of Arts and Sciences publica-tion. From back to front, this inaugural issue of Synergies describes some of the society-changing, provocative, and some-times offbeat activities of our students, fac-ulty, staff, and alumni. It truly reflects the college’s wonderful breadth and depth.

I expect that the front cover has intrigued you and drawn you to read about our college’s activities in Puerto Williams, Chile, where we are busy establish-ing the world’s most

southerly univer-sity field station. In the photo on this page, taken last October, I’m examining some of the exotic plants near our construction site in southern Chile.

Water is also a theme of this issue, from trying to conserve it to reflect-ing – in poetry – upon the implications of too much of it. And I’m fas-cinated by the concept of “lunar ethics” in our Op Ed piece, though I’m not quite sure I’ve come around completely to the author’s viewpoint.

I could go on at length about each piece in Synergies, since in its own way, every piece is my favorite! But more important is what you think. Synergies will be published periodically, and will continue to evolve under the influ-ence of you, the reader. So if you liked – or disliked – something in this issue, please let us know. Synergies is, after all, your publication....

Best,

SYN E R G iES

Synergies is a new publication of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Texas. Created with alumni and other affiliates and supporters of the college in mind, Synergies debuts as a print publication but will have a growing web-based presence at www.cas.unt.edu/synergies.

Editor Jay Rodman Designer Karen SG Milnes

News Story Writers April Murphy Jay Rodman

Warren Burggren, Dean UNT College of Arts and Sciences CASDean@unt.edu