An Associate Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences at HSU since 2003, Dr. Ward teaches environmental interpretation, fulfilling her department’s commitment to “connecting people with resources.”
Prior to the dinner, Professor Ward will deliver a free lecture, open to the public, titled “Big Trees and Big Ideas.” She will speak at 6:15 p.m. in Van Duzer Theater.
Dr. Ward has trained many of the people who work on the Redwood Coast and prepare the valuable interpretive cultural signage that informs and educates visitors to the region’s national and state parks. In the past two years, she and her students partnered with area Tribal leaders to create signage about the history and culture of local Native Americans. The signs grace the 15 kiosks distributed across the HSU campus.
Her teaching philosophy is students should be explorers, not followers. “Imagine,” she says, “a guide who leads you down an unfamiliar trail in a foreign environment. The guide leads you, but the footsteps are your own.”
Dinner tickets are $37.00 and must be purchased in advance. Checks should be made payable to the HSU Sponsored Programs Foundation. Details are available from the Office of Academic Affairs at 826-3722.