Guest Lectures
Plants and Human Culture - PLSC100

Guest lectures are presented by internationally known writers, landscape designers, photographers, ecologists and horticulturists who share plant and cultural landscape insights with students.  Regional experts working in the areas of community gardens, urban stormwater management and biodiversity facilitate discussion and debate on these and other contemporary issues. Guest lecturers for Fall 2006 included Rick Darke, Richard Lighty, Ann Mattingly, Gary Schwetz, W. Gary Smith, and Doug Tallamy.    

 
image (C) rick darke

Student comments on Guest Lectures, Fall 2006:

Roots of Agriculture - Richard Lighty
"nice to have this at the beginning of the course to give us a basis for the origin of plants"  "good way to start the course with a broad overview of how we ended up where we are now"
"also helped me in my World History class because we were learning about the same thing at that time"

World of Plants - Rick Darke
"opened my eyes to a lot of different plants I had never seen or heard of before" "made me feel passionately about the subject matter" "loved listening to all the stories told in class"

Paths of Desire - Rick Darke
"new perspective on nature" "made me look at the paths I take" "images really make the lecture interesting"

Cultural Landscapes: North American and International - Rick Darke
"interesting to learn about how landscape changes from place to place" "seeing cultural landscapes around the world allows us to see where many influences in the United States came from" "neat to learn about cultures other than my own"

Art in the Garden - W. Gary Smith
"enjoyed listening to talk about art created in different locations" "incorporated artwork into gardens and made gardens into artwork" "all about student participation and listening to everyone's ideas"

Community Gardens - Ann Mattingly
"plants have such a positive influence on people and sense of community" "pictures of the kids and stories about people helping to make Wilmington a more beautiful place were very inspiring" "eye opening - a topic I knew nothing about before this lecture"

Managing Water - Gary Schwetz
"made the class think 'out of the box' and put themselves in someone else's frame of mind" "debate was an interesting part of the class" "public forum with each group taking on a role was a good idea"

Suburban Biodiversity- Doug Tallamy
"brought to my attention some striking details and facts I've never considered before" "passion for the topic and its relevance to me" "more people need to know about what he is saying"

 
image (C) susan barton