{"id":55442,"date":"2023-11-26T21:40:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T02:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=55442"},"modified":"2024-01-24T15:18:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T20:18:45","slug":"lets-be-friends-how-an-interdisciplinary-gathering-led-to-an-environmental-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/11\/lets-be-friends-how-an-interdisciplinary-gathering-led-to-an-environmental-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Let\u2019s be friends\u2019: How an interdisciplinary gathering led to an environmental collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Associate

Associate lecturers Lucy Schultz, left, and Catherine Meeks Quinlan have been leading the charge in developing the environmental studies minor at UTC. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

They hail from different parts of the country, coming to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with diverse backgrounds, distinct academic specialties and a fascination with the environment.<\/p>\n

Associate lecturers Lucy Schultz and Catherine Meeks Quinlan are two driving forces behind UTC\u2019s growing environmental studies minor, an interdisciplinary field that examines human interactions and the environment. These include the effects of human societies on the natural world and the role that environments\u2014both natural and built\u2014 have played in shaping human cultures.<\/p>\n

The development of a new program has its roots in a faculty gathering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have these mixers where they get faculty together; you do this speed dating sort of thing where you go with all these different people and brainstorm an interdisciplinary class,\u201d said Schultz, who joined the UTC Department of Philosophy and Religion in 2019. \u201cCatherine and I ended up just talking and learning that we were both interested in environmental topics and we both had small children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was really cool that Catherine was very forward and was like, \u2018What\u2019s your number? Let\u2019s be friends,\u2019 so we became friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

That initial conversation was only the beginning.<\/p>\n

Schultz and Meeks Quinlan are two of the many UTC non-tenure-track faculty doing research, providing excellence in teaching and participating in University-level and community service.<\/p>\n

What makes them a tad unique is they have been at the forefront of creating a minor\u2014with the long-term goal of developing a major.<\/p>\n

Meeks Quinlan, a member of the Department of English, said the specific idea of developing the environmental studies minor could be linked to a summer 2021 College of Arts and Sciences interdisciplinary project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to Lucy and (Guerry Professor) Jennifer Boyd in environmental science, who I\u2019d known from my first stint at UTC, and she agreed to take part in that project with us as well so that we had a humanities and natural science connection,\u201d said Meeks Quinlan, who began her second stint at UTC in 2019. She previously taught at the University from 2008 to 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat project was really motivating. We looked around at all of UTC\u2019s peer and aspirational schools\u2014and some others we were familiar with from our contacts and networks\u2014and saw what other schools were doing. UTC didn\u2019t offer environmental studies but could based on what we already had here in terms of faculty interest and ways to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd said collaborating with Meeks Quinlan and Schultz on the environmental studies minor for the last two years has been \u201can absolutely fantastic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir passion for exploring the humanistic side of environmental issues, which is vital as we seek effective ways to solve problems, is contagious,\u201d Boyd said, \u201cand their abilities to collaborate across programs, departments and the local community are inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the privilege to work with these amazing women has expanded my perspective of environmental issues as a natural scientist and elevated my appreciation of the humanities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Lucy Schultz in a Values and the Environment class in The Bethlehem Center garden.<\/p><\/div>\n

Their work was soon supported by a highly competitive $35,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to explore the potential to develop environmental studies programming at UTC, and the minor was first offered for the 2022-2023 academic year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnvironmental studies requires an interdisciplinary approach because the environment is part of everything that we do,\u201d Schultz said, \u201cso you can have poets who are reflecting and philosophers who are thinking and writers who are communicating. You have the scientists who are studying and trying to figure out how things work. There\u2019s environmental history, and then there are all these ways that business, sociology and health interact with the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environment is essential to every aspect of life. We need all hands on deck and everyone working together to give students the education they need to be able to think systemically about how everything fits together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schultz earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in philosophy from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and a master\u2019s in philosophy and the arts at Stony Brook University in New York. After receiving a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oregon, she held faculty positions at Midwestern State University in Texas and Barton College in North Carolina before coming to UTC.<\/p>\n

Her fascination with the environment began in the heartland of western Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn philosophy, you think about the defining questions of what it means to be human, and part of that is to understand our place in the cosmos,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cI study world religions and world philosophy, and a big part of the world views of all these traditions is how they conceive of what nature is.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in rural Iowa, I was immersed in agricultural landscape. I\u2019ve carried an interest in agriculture to this day because agriculture is one of the primary ways that we interact with the natural world. And, of course, as a kid growing up in a rural place\u2014even though I was from a town\u2014you are outdoors all the time and cultivate a love for the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Catherine

Catherine Meeks Quinlan, center, in a Nature and Society: Introduction to Environmental Studies class.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meeks Quinlan is a \u201cfifth-generation Tennesseean\u201d who chose Berry College in Georgia for her undergraduate studies \u201cin large part because the campus is phenomenally beautiful and they have 27,000 acres of land with hiking trails and all kinds of outdoor activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving a bachelor\u2019s degree in English literature, she earned a master\u2019s degree in environmental studies with a focus in environmental writing from the University of Montana and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Her interest in the environment from an academic standpoint came about \u201cwhen I was in college and was always interested in writing and literature and just drawn to a lot of writers who were focused on investigating the relationship between humans and nature,\u201d Meeks Quinlan said.<\/p>\n

Meeks Quinlan said she and Schultz share many similarities around framing questions and approaches to the significant environmental and sustainability issues that the minor is geared around.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause both of us have a background in interdisciplinary thinking and working, that\u2019s what connected us,\u201d she said, \u201cand coming from our distinct disciplines\u2014because we both value the interdisciplinary approach\u2014that\u2019s the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creating the minor has also allowed them to work with faculty from all corners of campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat unites everybody is the appreciation for interdisciplinary approaches to solving problems,\u201d Meeks Quinlan said. \u201cAnother thing about environmental studies is its very applied nature. It emphasizes not just theoretical framing but also action-oriented problem-solving and projects\u2014and that filters into how we emphasize community engagement and experiential learning as part of the student experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

In environmental studies\u2019 first full year at UTC, 22 students declared that minor encompassing eight majors and 13 concentrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with this student generation, there\u2019s a sense of urgency, so we want to respond to that and empower them to feel like they can make a difference and take initiatives,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cOur hope is that the combination of the location of Chattanooga and the strengths of UTC will attract students to come here to study environmental studies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Meeks Quinlan, \u201cIt\u2019s a field that the world needs\u2014that Chattanooga needs\u2014that will have a real impact in the community. Chattanooga is very well-positioned to support this because it\u2019s the Scenic City and has all of this natural beauty and recreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn More<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

Environmental Studies at UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

Environmental Studies courses<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associate lecturers Lucy Schultz and Catherine Meeks Quinlan are two driving forces behind UTC\u2019s growing environmental studies minor, an interdisciplinary field that examines human interactions and the environment. These include the effects of human societies on the natural world and the role that environments\u2014both natural and built\u2014 have played in shaping human cultures.<\/p>\n

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