Hitch received his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Brown University. As an undergraduate, he studied history, environmental studies, and American Indian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

We caught up with him to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom 

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

I want students to know that my love of teaching is really a love of learning. So, when a student enters a classroom of mine, it is my hope that they will bring their own unique experiential and intellectual knowledge of the world and share it with all of us. In other words, true learning flows from the dynamic conversations we have and an exchange of knowledge and ways of understanding the world that help us collectively form a more thorough and nuanced understanding.��

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at �������ý��Ƶ that gets you the most excited?

The work I have continued with the Menominee Nation here at �������ý��Ƶ energizes me every day. I am so grateful for the opportunity to combine my love of teaching with my community-engaged scholarship. I was lucky enough to begin my work with the Menominee over a decade ago, and to continue to develop relationships of mutual trust and reciprocity as we work toward building a more just and regenerative world. In this work, I am not only researching and writing about the Menominee Nation, but also partnering with them on successfully opposing the proposed Back Forty Mine, volunteering with community nonprofits, and assisting in building out a regenerative economic system based in renewable energy and organic food sovereignty on the reservation.��

This work has resulted in not only my current book project, Regenerative Power: The Menominee Nation’s Long Fight to Save an Old-Growth Forest, but, more impactfully I think, in developing a community-engaged course here at �������ý��Ƶ. Indigenous Ecology: Ancestral Knowledges and Science in Action essentially builds on the engaged scholarship I have pursued. The idea is that I might share my experience with students to learn how to ethically conduct research with Indigenous communities, study Indigenous knowledge ways, and get hands-on experience by working on environmental justice and sustainability projects with partners at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) and community nonprofits. I am thrilled to be able to magnify this good work with our newly awarded Mellon Foundation Environmental Justice grant to partner with CMN on addressing environmental injustices in our shared Fox-Wolf watershed. With the $500,000 awarded, we are able to hire an Indigenous scholar-in-residence, expand community-engaged course offerings, along with hiring student workers to engage in research, advocacy, public history, and ecological restoration. I see this as only the beginning, however, as we continue to build better relations between our higher-education communities as well as better relations with the land and water.��

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

I would say spending so much time within the Menominee community really changed the way I see the world. It was in all the conversations with Menominee friends and colleagues while pulling weeds in the garden, boiling maple syrup, hiking through the old-growth forest, or just sitting around a fire that I started to see the world from not just a science-based worldview, but more of a holistic understanding of the interconnection of various more-than-human beings and energies. This really surprised me because it encouraged me to actually lean into interdisciplinarity, which is the opposite of what most doctoral education results in.��

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?  

If I weren’t teaching, I would likely be doing much the same in terms of working with local communities on building out regenerative economic systems that produce increased biodiversity, carbon storage, and human flourishing, but with much more down time! That downtime would mean more hiking, swimming, snowshoeing, and the arts—I would likely join community theater, relearn piano, and start a punk-rock band.��

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

I have a circuit I love to walk when I need to clear my head. It starts at the big oak next to the library, goes down the hill to the wooded trail behind Warch, then loops back around over the old train-track bridge, and back up the hill. The combination of the old oak that has witnessed so much, alongside the wooded trail that calms me, to being above such a beautiful and powerful river that inspires—all of these places just seem to center me.��

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

Can I choose two books? If so, nonfiction would be Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, which is one of those books that can change the trajectory of your life’s work—at least it did for me. Kimmerer so elegantly weaves ecology and Indigenous knowledge ways into a narrative that offers a different modality of thinking from which we might build a more just and resilient world. As for fiction, I would have to say The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, which is one of the best speculative fiction/CliFi novels I have read. Robinson not only poignantly tells of the impacts of climate change, but weaves in potential solutions that open up a wide array of regenerative possibilities for our global community and future generations.��

Kervin said the grant will fund activities that will cultivate an abiding partnership between �������ý��Ƶ and CMN, centered on the health and interdependence of the Fox and Wolf rivers.

“I am excited about the innovations that the grant will make possible, including collaboration between LU’s environmental studies program and CMN’s Sustainable Development Institute and experiential learning opportunities that allow students to see what humanistic thinking can offer to real communities,” Kervin said.

The work aims to guide new conversations about the history and future of the Fox and Wolf rivers, including �������ý��Ƶ’s place and voice in the watershed. Doing so in partnership with the Menominee improves the likelihood that the work will continue well beyond the three-year window of the grant.

The College of Menominee Nation, chartered by the Menominee people, recently marked its 30-year anniversary. As a 1994 Land Grant institution of higher education, it infuses learning with Indigenous culture and prepares students for leadership, careers, and advanced studies, with a particular emphasis on environmental sustainability.

The authors of the Mellon grant proposal pledged to study and teach about environmental justice issues while also seeking paths to greater sustainability in the region. They point to such environmental issues as settlers clearing forests, uprooting prairies, and damming rivers, all of which produced historical and contemporary environmental injustices that have impacted the Menominee; a proposed sulfide mine that the Menominee are fighting over concerns of its impact on the waterway and Menominee heritage sites; and nonpoint source run-off pollution from roads, farms, and lawns that affect the aquatic food chain and water quality of the Fox-Wolf watershed.��

“As we expand our environmental justice research and curriculum at �������ý��Ƶ, I think it’s important to center issues that impact the Menominee Nation,” Colón said. “Indigenous-centered community building, engagement, and knowledge production will help us grow our Indigenous presence on campus and improve the experiences of Indigenous students, faculty, and staff.”

De Stasio, the Dennis and Charlot Nelson Singleton Professor of Biological Sciences and professor of biology, has led these trips since 1996. The most recent excursion, which took 14 students to the western shore of Bonaire during Spring Term 2024, was De Stasio’s last. He is retiring in June and is handing off leadership of the program to Brian Piasecki, associate professor of biology, who has partnered with him on LUMP since 2014.

De Stasio was a student at �������ý��Ƶ in 1980 when he was invited to join a Marine Term trip to Grand Cayman.

“That really set me on the path of going to graduate school for aquatic studies,” he said.

That path would eventually lead back to �������ý��Ƶ, where De Stasio would join the biology faculty and take over leadership of the program following Richman’s retirement.

The program, he said, is centered on the premise that students doing research on coral reefs can apply that experience to a range of aquatic systems. That makes the Marine Term work as relevant in the Midwest as it is in the waters of the Caribbean.

“The challenges are all the same,” De Stasio said. “It doesn’t matter if you are in Green Bay or Lake Baikal or in the Gulf of Finland or in the coral reefs, an animal in an aquatic environment has to worry about getting eaten by something that is bigger than it. So, those food relationships are really what drive it.”

A course on microbiology and studies of local aquatic ecosystems allow students to investigate the similarities and differences between marine and freshwater environments. That approach has helped �������ý��Ƶ alumni seamlessly traverse related fields—Gretchen Gerrish ’98 is director of the University of Wisconsin’s Trout Lake Station, a year-round research operation of the school’s Center for Limnology; Amina Pollard ’95, a limnologist and ecologist, is coordinator of freshwater research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Devin Burri ’14 is a program analyst at NOAA who received a prestigious 2023 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship to combine interests in marine science and environmental policy. The list goes on.

Christopher Acy ’15, an aquatic invasive species coordinator with the nonprofit Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, said the Marine Term experience remains relevant as he continues to build a career in applied biology. His current position is a mix of education and field work focused on preventing and/or removing invasive species from the Fox and Wolf rivers in Wisconsin.

“My job now includes field days where I’m on the waters of northeast Wisconsin documenting invasive species populations and implementing plans to remove invasive species where they become a problem,” he said. “I was given the gift during Marine Term of being able to visualize changes to biodiversity over long periods of time. When finding invasive species in Wisconsin, I can visualize how the landscape might change if no action is taken.”

The players change but the constraints of being in a water system are all the same, De Stasio said.

“I’ve always tried to help my students see those similarities,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are working on a small lake in Wisconsin or working on a coral reef or in the ocean, those basic principles are the same.”

A draw to �������ý��Ƶ

It is not unusual for students or alumni to point to Marine Term as a deciding factor in attending �������ý��Ƶ.

“The uniqueness of going to a small liberal arts college where I could study both music and biology while getting hands-on experience in marine biology is unrivaled,” Acy said. “I’m still in close touch with many of the students in my Marine Term cohort.”

Emma Moya, a junior biology major from Chicago, was one of the 14 �������ý��Ƶ students on the Marine Term trip to Bonaire in the spring. She had come to �������ý��Ƶ in part because of Marine Term. She called the experience “impactful” and said it solidified her plans to pursue marine biology as a career.

“Marine Term made me more motivated than I was before,” Moya said. “It became even more of an obsession of wanting to spend more time in the ocean, wanting to continue research on corals and marine mammals, to pursue outreach while ensuring that communities from all over are involved; that these communities are aware of the power they carry to help our oceans.”

Governed by the Netherlands, Bonaire is one of three islands off the coast of Venezuela called the ABC Islands, with nearby Aruba and Curaçao.��This marked the second time Bonaire has been the destination for Marine Term.��

The first week in Bonaire was focused on gathering data of fish and coral diversity at seven sites. During the second week, students worked in small groups on research projects of their own design. In a twist, the group was accompanied by the Conservatory of Music’s José Encarnación, associate professor of music and director of jazz studies, who spent the two weeks studying the music of Bonaire and later coordinated a �������ý��Ƶ Jazz Band concert in Memorial Chapel that featured both the music of the island and research testimonials from the Marine Term students.

“We always try to make this trip more holistic,” De Stasio said of the music collaboration. “We want our students to understand how the coral reefs are really a part of the society that’s there.”

Besides Bonaire, LUMP students have studied reefs in the Bahamas, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands.��Nearly 350 �������ý��Ƶ students have taken part over the past four decades, with De Stasio being at the heart of the program for most of that time.

“One of the things that was nurtured during Marine Term and my classes with Bart was a love for education,” Acy said. “I really enjoy the ‘lightbulb’ moment when I’m working with all sorts of people, from 8-year-olds to 80-year-olds—the understanding of how waterways are impacted by invasive species. Seeing someone go from nonchalance to wanting to take action about invasive species or water issues is immensely gratifying.”

Knudsen, whose academic interests include environmental mineralogy and low-temperature geochemistry, has been on the �������ý��Ƶ faculty since 2003. He received a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Idaho.

We caught up with him to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

I am in constant awe of this incredible planet that we call home. Not only do we reside on, but we are also a fundamental part of Earth. I consider myself incredibly lucky to spend my career striving to better understand Earth and our relationship with it. That I get to share this passion with my students is just awesome.

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at �������ý��Ƶ that gets you the most excited?

Easy! My study of banded iron formations (BIF) gets me really excited. To start, these are eye-catchingly beautiful rocks with their stripes of steely grays and deep reds. In studying these ancient rocks, I have focused on the stories they tell about the evolution of our atmosphere as oxygen became more prevalent in the air some 2 billion years ago as photosynthetic organisms reshaped our planet. Not only that, but here in Wisconsin, these rocks are preserved as the backbone of the Penokee Hills, remnants of an ancient, massive mountain range that stood as tall as the Alps billions of years ago. To make it even more exciting, these mountains formed as plates collided in an important step in the assembly of our continent. Finally, these rocks, forming a long and tough ridgeline running east-west across northern Wisconsin, impacted the flow of the glaciers more recently (geologically speaking), playing a part in the giant sheets of ice carving out Lake Superior and the landscape of Wisconsin. So, the BIF in Wisconsin connects to the air we breathe, the land below our feet, and the shape of the water in our region. Amazing! I carry a small piece of BIF in my pocket to remind me of the amazing stories the rocks can share with us. Perhaps the best part of all, is that I get to take a group of students up to the Penokee Hills each fall to share these incredible stories with them.

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

Yes! That place is a sandy beach on the shores of Lake Superior at the mouth of the Bad River, sitting with my class by a fire of driftwood collected on the beach, listening to the stories of Mike Wiggins Jr., a tribal elder and leader of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. The Bad River (or Mashkiiziibii-Medicine River, in Ojibwe) has its headwaters in the Penokee Hills, then flows to Lake Superior. My students and I visit with Mike the day after we visit the incredible rocks of the Penokee Hills. Mike’s stories help weave humans into the rich geological and ecological story of this incredible place.

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?  

I would probably be spending as much time in my canoe on some lake up north. But I’d still be looking at rocks and talking about geology until my family and my dog couldn’t take it anymore. So, it’s probably best that I get to teach at �������ý��Ƶ!

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

I really enjoy spending time by the river. The flow of the water is calming and centering for me.

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

There are so many incredible books. I am going to go with Gathering Moss by Robin Wall-Kimmerer. It is a simply wonderful book about moss, the beautiful and humble places that moss grows, and also her incredible story of being a scientist, indigenous woman, and a mother. Moss, not unlike rocks, is quite beautiful and amazing, but often overlooked, and it asks that you be willing to get down on your hands and knees with a hand lens to your eye to fully appreciate their beauty. Her writing is truly incredible!

Greg Brown is a singer-songwriter from southern Iowa. I love all his works, but he has a live album, The Live One, that is incredible. This recording captures his humor, story-telling, and incredible poetry. His deep and gravely baritone voice paints images of beautiful yet humble landscapes: a trout stream in the U.P., a small, wooded farm in southern Iowa, or the hills of the Driftless region. His lyrics and storytelling get at what it means to be a human in relation with other humans and the land around us. He sings about his grandmother’s canned goods still having the taste of summer in them, asking her to pass “some more potatoes and a thunderstorm.” I love that imagery.��

The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes is a wonderfully campy short film produced by the National Film Board of Canada from 1969. It follows a bearded, flannel-clad traveler as he paddles his wood-canvas canoe through geologic history, comically experiencing the formation of the Great Lakes. What could be more riveting. Add in a delightful square dance tune summarizing the geologic history of the Great Lakes and you have a true classic.

The Career Enhancement Fellows’ research advances disciplines such as history, Chicana and Chicano studies, religious studies, gender and women’s studies, literature, African diaspora studies, and more. Beyond academic diversity, the 2024 Fellows come from an equally diverse range of institutions from across the country. Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, Fellows are expanding perspectives within their disciplines and are committed to research and service that increases engagement and inclusion on campus.

Administered at Citizens & Scholars since 2001, the Career Enhancement Fellowship has supported more than 500 junior faculty members, creating a robust network of scholars committed to eradicating racial disparities in core fields in the arts and humanities.

Colón came to �������ý��Ƶ via postdoctoral National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowships in geography and history, then worked as a visiting assistant professor of environmental and ethnic studies before earning a tenure-track appointment three years ago. She teaches in both ethnic studies and environmental studies, developing courses that address the geopolitics of inequality and linking racial and environmental justice.

“As an interdisciplinary scholar, my teaching philosophy emphasizes teaching students to apply the knowledge and critical thinking skills they develop in my courses to problems that exist outside the classroom,” Colón said. “I do this by building supportive and inclusive learning environments that address structural inequalities and by empowering students to exercise ownership of their learning.”

Hanhan and LUCC worked to create a lineup of Earth Week activities in April, hosted by student organizations and featuring topics ranging from recycling to native planting to stargazing. It concluded with Earth Fest, a celebration of sustainability-focused food, fun, and tabling.

Hanhan is particularly proud of Earth Week’s focus on experiential learning: students didn’t just discuss environmental solutions, they tried them out, too.

“We’re not just going to sit here and say, this is good, this is bad,” Hanhan said. “We want to then take that and use our skills and resources to show [other communities] that these programs are important and possible.”

Pursuing change

Hanhan’s passion for sustainability policy is nothing new. As co-chair on the Sustainability Committee since its founding, he has worked on first-year kits and sustainable menstruation programs. The first-year kits are sustainability kits that include reusable silverware, a water bottle, and a dish towel. The sustainable menstruation program is a growing initiative to give Lawrentians sustainable options. In addition to providing pads and tampons in campus bathrooms, the program distributed reusable menstrual products this year to nearly 200 students.

“The way that we change the way our campus impacts the environment is by making institutional decisions and creating resources that make sustainable decisions accessible to students,” Hanhan said.

Hanhan’s style of activism is to be hands-on. He hopes that approach will keep students engaged with LUCC. Recognizing that he alone doesn’t have the expertise to solve every problem, he is working to create a strong organizational structure within LUCC that will smoothly connect students with experts who can help.

Hanhan said LUCC loves to hear from students. They can contact LUCC at their website () and submit comments anonymously online or in-person on the fourth floor of Warch Campus Center.

Despite Hanhan’s hard-nosed activism, he has learned to work within a system that changes incrementally, he said.

“It’s that liberal arts problem-solving,” Hanhan said.

Colón holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s degree in history from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University.

We caught up with her to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom 

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

I want students to know how invested I am in their education. Everyone steps into the classroom with unique strengths and challenges, and I’m eager to meet students where they’re at, but also to push them to think about things in new ways, take intellectual risks, and challenge themselves to find their voice and create work that they have a stake in.

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at �������ý��Ƶ that gets you the most excited?

I’m excited about the work students have accomplished applying cultural geography and mapping techniques in my courses. In my Social Justice and Critical Geography course, for example, students have done projects that range from mapping the impacts of gentrification in places such as Harlem, Brooklyn, Chicago, Atlanta, and Madison to mapping the rise and accessibility of music organizations in Philadelphia since the 1920s. My goal is to collaborate with other faculty to establish a digital lab that could house student projects and contribute to a collective archive that helps build community among students and connections to places beyond campus.

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?

I never expected that my academic pursuits would take me all over the world—especially as someone who grew up in a small town and who mostly traveled to visit family. I did a Fulbright in Turkey, a field institute in Oaxaca, and was a service-learning intern in various countries including Japan, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. My biggest surprise was finding an intellectual home with the Yale Working Group on Globalization and Culture organized by Michael Denning. The experience transformed my understanding of intellectual work as a potentially collective practice that can balance research, political action, and theorizing. Moving from an academic focus on U.S. history for my master’s to doing cultural studies for my Ph.D. took me to conferences in places like Istanbul, Paris, Toulouse, and Tampere where I presented projects with the working group that grew out of our collaborative work.

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?  

Dancing, I hope! I’ve always loved dancing and found an incredible Argentine tango community in New Haven, Connecticut. When my good friend Jessica Keiser and I were co-presidents of Yale Tango Club we had practicas and milongas multiple times a week and took the train or carpooled to New York City regularly just to dance all night.

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

I love the library. I used to spend more time working in the library than in my office. The windows on the first floor are great and I enjoy seeing the new books, displays, and exhibits. I appreciate all the work that our librarians and staff members do to make the space feel open and accessible and to cultivate creativity and community.

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

There are so many books that speak to my soul, but the one that I probably recommend most often is Kiese Laymon’s Heavy.��

For music, Un Verano Sin Ti because Bad Bunny keeps “winning in non-English.”

During our recent snowstorm, my partner Josh and I walked to our friend Jesús Smith’s house to watch Everything Everywhere All at Once and it was as good as everyone said it would be. The notion that the universe is a vast, potentially meaningless series of possibilities and alternate realities that can be stifling or leave us unfilled feels accurate. And I appreciate that the film tries to offer us some hope that committing to the present moment and to the people we love might ultimately be the thing that saves us.��

Taylor and Newman concurred that seeing so many people interested in the same topic at the conference was eye-opening as they consider career paths in the sciences. It was an opportunity to network and learn more about the field from the numerous graduate students and post-secondary faculty who attended the conference.

Presenting as researchers was also a huge confidence booster.

“It’s easy to forget we’re scientists,” Taylor said. “Going to AGU helped us realize we are doing science, we are doing experiments, and have been for a very long time. We absolutely have the skills to consider ourselves scientists.”

In addition to the AGU conference, the duo’s research has been presented at a LURF gathering and the Mid-states Research Consortium. Newman and Taylor said the other conferences gave them confidence going into the AGU conference, and Ribbons provided valuable feedback.

“I love the geoscience faculty,” Taylor said. “We’re a smaller department, but they’re very supportive. I’ve interacted with all of them in some way.”

Newman agreed: “They care about seeing you do well, even outside of being a student.”

Ribbons said the students were meticulous in developing and executing their research procedures.

“Madeline and Amber were consistently hard-working students and together we worked on getting these hydroponics set-ups consistently producing microgreens,” Ribbons said.

The research began by repurposing an existing PVC-pipe system, and then growing the project to include other hydroponic set-ups. They tracked the growth of the plants for a number of weeks, and then took DNA samples by scraping the film off the plants’ roots. They performed a process called qPCR, or quantitative polymerase chain reactions, which quantified the number of bacteria and fungi in the samples. The isolated DNA was then sent to UW-Madison, where it is being sequenced to identify the precise species of microbes the plants carry. The next step in their research will be to perform statistical analysis of the results to determine if the microbial composition is significant or simply by chance.

By exploring the microbial makeup of these microgreens, Taylor and Newman are hoping to identify plants with high levels of nitrifying bacteria, which are bacteria that turn ammonia into nitrate for energy.

“Bacteria like that is really beneficial for plant growth,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot of hope that the next big thing in agriculture will be bio-fertilizers, instead of harmful chemical fertilizers.”

Taylor and Newman are hopeful their research will help build a strong foundation of knowledge that will lead to effective and widespread bio-fertilizers.

“The environment and nature have always been at the forefront of my life,” Newman said. “Being able to go to school and study both music and environmental science, which are two of my core values, is really cool.”

Taylor said she initially planned to be an English major. She said , the Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies and professor of geosciences and author of Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth; Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World; and Geopedia: A Brief Compendium of Geologic Curiosities, inspired her to explore the sciences.

“I took an environmental science class and realized it wasn’t that I didn’t like science or was bad at science, I just wasn’t experiencing it in the right way,” she said.

Jason Brozek has followed Fordwor’s journey since she left �������ý��Ƶ. The Stephen Edward Scarff Professor of International Affairs and associate professor of government chairs the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program and calls Fordwor’s advocacy for environmental stewardship across the disciplines inspirational.

“The environmental studies major is built around the notion that ecosystems, resources, and the environment don’t fit into tidy disciplinary boxes, and I love how Natalie’s show reinforces that idea for a whole generation of kids,” Brozek said. “She’s out there doing exactly the sort of creative, inspirational work that we always hope the major will be a springboard for.”

Life after �������ý��Ƶ

Following graduation from �������ý��Ƶ, Fordwor returned home to Ghana to work in sustainable architecture. It wasn’t the right fit, she said. While she majored in environmental studies, she minored in both art and government. She wanted something that touched on all that and more.

She returned to school to get a master’s degree in education and technology from UCL Institute of Education. As she began a career in teaching, she became increasingly concerned on two fronts—one, the focus on Western influences was squeezing out teaching on customs, history, and resources of Ghana. And two, the gap in educational quality between “privileged schools” and “disadvantaged schools” was alarmingly large, Fordwor said.

Starting a business

In 2019, she launched a business called WonderspacED that she hoped could address both of those educational shortcomings. It started as an in-person camp for kids.

“Then the pandemic hit,” Fordwor said. “I was like, oh my gosh, I left my teaching job and started a business and now we can’t work. So that’s when I took my little mini-lessons online and put them on YouTube.”

The videos, targeted to children ages 5 to 11, focused on art, writing, and critical thinking skills. They explored key locations and topics in Ghana and explored them through multiple lenses—geography, history, math, science, and art.

The videos caught the attention of executives at a television station who proposed turning Fordwor’s video content into a weekly kids’ show—The Wonderspaced Show, with Miss Natalie. It debuted last year, with 13 first-season episodes. Work is now under way on season two.

“The goal is to expose children all over the world to the rich landscape we have in Ghana and Africa,” Fordwor said.

The show is currently viewable in Ghana, Nigeria, and a few other African countries, as well as some parts of Europe courtesy of Showmax. Fordwor, who employs a videographer, an editor, and an illustrator as part of her WonderspacED business, is hoping the show will be accessible in the United States via YouTube once the exclusivity period with the TV station in Ghana ends.

So much of what Fordwor is doing links back to her experiences at �������ý��Ƶ. She looks at �������ý��Ƶ’s newly introduced business and entrepreneurship major and is excited for students coming into �������ý��Ƶ. It’s the type of major she said she would have embraced if it was there when she was an undergrad.

“I’m an educator, I’m an artist, I do interdisciplinary work, but the business side is when I really have to put on my thinking cap,” Fordwor said. “I saw the business major announcement and thought, ‘Oh, I wish that was there when I was there.’ That would have sealed the deal. I would have been more ready for the business part of this.”

Coming at a time when climate change crises are heightening the urgency in understanding the earth, Geopedia adds to an impressive volume of work from Bjornerud that makes her a sought-after voice in geology, tectonics, and related areas of study. It doesn’t come with the scope or weight of her critically lauded 2019 book, , also from Princeton University Press, but it offers yet another opportunity for readers to better understand the planet—its history and its future.

With a mix of wit and insight, the book delves into interesting and evocative geologic terms used to describe everything from rock formations to the study of geologic time. With each entry, Bjornerud weaves an essay that is both fun and informative, creating a travel companion of sorts for anyone wanting to explore the planet. Princeton University Press describes its pocket-sized Pedia Series as “encyclopedic in nature and miniature in form.”

A frequent contributing writer to The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, and other publications and a popular guest on podcasts, Bjornerud began writing Geopedia during the first year of the Covid pandemic. It was a bit of an escape at a time when everything had gone remote, she said, and it was another chance to make the geosciences more accessible.

“I’m a collector of words and have always been interested in etymologies—interesting words with interesting stories behind them that collectively could tell a bigger story,” Bjornerud said. “You can either treat it as a chocolate box where you open it randomly and pick out one and take a bite; or if you do actually read the whole book, and it doesn’t have to be read in any order, I think you’ll come away with some sense of the intellectual experience of the geosciences. And a fair amount of geology, too.”

“The geosciences had and still has this musty old reputation, and as a consequence almost nobody who lives on Earth knows anything about the way the planet works.”
– Marcia Bjornerud

Bjornerud, the Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies and professor of geology, has been teaching at �������ý��Ƶ since 1995. Her 2005 book, Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth, and 2019’s Timefulness drew wide praise. Timefulness, which puts a fresh focus on the relationship between humans and natural history, was named to the 2019 Phi Beta Kappa Awards Short List and was selected as a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science and Technology.

Bjornerud, who said she frequently hears from colleagues at other institutions who use her books in their teaching, is the founding director of �������ý��Ƶ’s degree-granting program in environmental studies and played a key role in the creation of the environmental science major.

She said she’s buoyed by the growing number of people interested in a deeper understanding of natural history and what it can tell us about the perilous days ahead. Feedback from her books and her essays tell her there’s a hunger for that, even as many of the world’s leaders fail to respond to the urgency. Her writing has earned her frequent invitations over the past three years to be a guest on podcasts that typically don’t focus on science—everything from psychology to history to philosophy.

“I’m writing because I think we urgently need a re-conception of our relationship with the natural world,” Bjornerud said.

There was a time in the early to mid-19th century when the geosciences were revered. But that fell off for more than a century, and while physics and chemistry ascended, geology and related studies took a back seat, often viewed as less rigorous and unworthy of intellectual investment, Bjornerud said. That has been particularly damaging at the high school level. It’s changing now amid the growing climate crises, but the damage has been done.

“The geosciences had and still has this musty old reputation, and as a consequence almost nobody who lives on Earth knows anything about the way the planet works,” Bjornerud said. “It’s not in high school curricula in any rigorous way, and that sends a strong message to smart students that, oh, this is not a sophisticated science, it doesn’t require rigor or understanding. The consequences of that are being seen in crises all around us. We are just rampantly illiterate.”

Bjornerud hopes her writing, including the newly released Geopedia, and her teaching can play a role in improving that literacy. Like many of the students she sees today, she came to college with little understanding of what natural history can teach us. An intro geoscience class at the University of Minnesota lit a fire and started her on her path.

“These are not new insights, but delving into some of this vocabulary, I am reminded of how geology got this wonderful early start when people first realized how old the earth was and began to codify how to decipher the rock record,” she said. “And then for a variety of reasons, the discipline just kind of stumbled and got stuck.”

But she sees a heightened passion in �������ý��Ƶ students who are studying geosciences, environmental studies, environmental science. Her writing, including in Geopedia, reflects that.

“Climate change motivates my own work—trying to unshackle the geosciences from this reputation,” Bjornerud said. “The geosciences are now in a new golden age. I try to convey that in this little book.”