The Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Delta State University, in partnership with friends of Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge and the National Audubon Society, will offer a course in environmental education during the spring semester.
The course will meet on Thursdays, Jan. 14 – April 29, at 4:30 p.m. in room 105 of Caylor Hall on the campus.
The course is open to the public. Teachers can take the course for 2.5 CEU credits.
The Division of Physical and Biological Sciences and the Division of Social Sciences at Delta State will coordinate the course which will cover a range of topics including the ecology of the Mississippi Delta, the objectives of National Wildlife Refuges, migratory patterns of various bird and insect species, biodiversity conservation, and nature tourism initiatives in the Delta region.
In addition to Delta State faculty, the course will feature guest speakers from the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, Millsaps College, the National Audubon Society, and Anderson Tully, among others.
Each meeting will last about one hour. In addition, the course includes two field trips to Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge, each lasting 4 to 5 hours. The dates for the field trips will be arranged once the course is underway.
The course grew out of a recent National Fish and Wildlife Foundation “Nature of Learning” grant awarded to the Friends of Dahomey. The larger goal is to engage teachers and students in the refuge through seminars, workshops, field trips, and service projects. As an added benefit, course participants will have the opportunity to work towards certification as a Master Naturalist through Audubon Mississippi’s newly formed Mississippi River Field Institute, based in Vicksburg. Details on certification will be covered during the first meeting.
For more information, including a link to the schedule, go to http://faculty.deltastate.edu/abarton/SSC492SP10/SSC492FlyerSP10.html or contact Dr. Alan Barton at (662) 846-4097 or e-mail abarton@deltastate.edu. If you would like to sign up for the course, please contact Melissa Stewart in the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies, at (662) 846-4871 or e-mail mstewart@deltastate.edu.
