Tarleton State University is hosting Brown Bag Discussions, where students are encouraged to express themselves and take part in discussions that revolve around scholastic and environmental issues. The discussions started out with meetings held by Dr. Barbara Bellows, Coordinator of Center of Environmental Sciences.

“I held similar meeting during the 2015 to 2016 academic year,” Bellows said. In these meetings, Bellows said, “[we] discussed the potential installation of a bio-swale on campus,” which is a soil and plant buffer that can absorb and treat run-off water from parking lots.

Topics like this just a scratch the surface of what is discussed during the meetings and what it does for students and faculty alike.

At the first meeting of the semester, the Center for Environmental Studies and Faculty were formerly initiated. Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio, university president, and Dr. Karen Murray, Executive

Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost, were present and talked about the importance of examining environmental impacts from a range of disciplinary perspectives.

According to Bellows, she began these discussions in order “to provide a forum for faculty, staff and students from across the Tarleton State University campus to discuss a broad range of research topics related to environmental science.”

Students attending these meetings will benefit in a variety of ways. Bellows will provide students will “faculty working [who will work] together [with students] to develop courses that are taught from one discipline but include guest speakers from other disciplines in order to encourage students to look at issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.”

According to Bellows, settings such like these will allow students to “meet faculty from across campus and learn about their research. They can also volunteer to present information about research that they are conducting.”

To view all future Brown Bag discussions dates and times, visit tarleton.edu/calendar.