U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

 Volume VIII, Number 2

Developing a Sense of Place, a Freshman Seminar project at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, will help incoming students make the transition into college life. Dessie Severson and Mary Puterbaugh Mulcahy, biology; Stephen Robar, political science/environmental policy; Jody Burgert, education; and J. Michael Stuckart, anthropology and interim vice president and dean of academic affairs, have created a semester-long, interdisciplinary orientation program that will encourage collaboration and interaction among faculty and students. The project will include individual topic groups based on students’ interests. However, all the groups will share a common geographical focus for the semester—the watershed of the West Branch of Tunungwant Creek, which runs through the Pitt-Bradford campus.

The project emphasizes experiential learning and interdisciplinary education and will begin by faculty and students actually walking the creek and hiking the area, leading to further study based on firsthand observations. These observations will allow the groups to work simultaneously on various discipline-specific projects throughout the semester. Robar’s Environmental Policy Group will identify the various stakeholders in the watershed. Severson’s Natural History Group will study the effect stakeholders have had on the natural environment, such as the impact of abandoned gas and oil wells on water quality and wildlife. Mulcahy’s Ethnobotany Group will focus on the use of plants by indigenous peoples in the area. Stuckart’s Photography Group will create photo essays of the area. And Burgert’s Education Group will develop nature-based and science-based environmental education units of the watershed.

Severson believes, “This experience will teach lifelong learning skills so our students become better citizens of a global society.” Burgert says, “At Bradford, we’re committed to lifelong learning. Through this common experience students will see that there are many sides to an issue.”
“Actively involving students in campus life is one of the project’s main goals,” says Severson. Burgert believes the project will give students “a better sense of how they fit in.” She says, “Those of us who have been in education for a long time know the interconnectedness of academic disciplines and how they relate to the real world. At eighteen, often you don’t know or understand that connectedness.”

The faculty hope the project will help students develop a strong “sense of place” in both their personal and academic lives. Severson says, “We want students to participate as active learners, become grounded in a physical place, make friends, and become involved in their community.”

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