Intro to Forestry visits KA Point

One of the fall 2009 sections of Intro to Forestry spent Tuesday afternoon identifying trees, practicing map and compass skills, and enjoying our first touch of fall weather.

Siegfried's demise

Sewanee students participating in Dr. Knoll's comparative watersheds class are writing and resting at a German spring where the medieval hero Siegfried was said to have been killed.

Studying watersheds in Germany

Sewanee's environmental studies opportunities took on an international dimension this summer with a new comparative watershed studies course offered by Dr. Martin Knoll. Twelve students spent two weeks in southern Germany comparing watershed characteristics there with watersheds they had previously studied on the Cumberland Plateau around Sewanee. Daily hikes of 15 to 30 km exposed students to the geology, hydrology, flora, fauna, and rich human history of the landscape. Although the watersheds in both areas have a similar geological and hydrological construct, differences in climate and a long history of intensive modification of the land in Germany starting with Celtic tribes have resulted in the evolution of a landscape very different from that of the Cumberland Plateau. Of particular interest to students were the region's vineyards and the concept of terroir, or all those natural and cultural factors that give a region its distinctive flavor of wine (southwest Germany includes the country's largest red wine producing region).

Student internships - Geology/Archaeology

This summer Geology major Leila Donn, supported by a Mellon Foundation internship, worked with Dr. Sarah Sherwood of Dickinson College and the Sewanee Environmental Institute Archaeology Field School in conducting an excavation of a sandstone rock shelter on campus. Martin Knoll was a co-advisor on the project, which uncovered artifacts dating back to the early Archaic Period. Knoll, Donn, and Sherwood hope to obtain radio carbon dates from the site soon.

Snowden Hall - June 2010

Snowden Hall in the not too distant future!

T. Boone visits Snowden Hall

Better late than never. In case you missed it, T. Boone Pickens was in Snowden Hall this past April to lecture about his energy plan.

Georesources - ghosts from the past