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Punta Cana Faculty, Spring
2007
Dr. Jerry Via
[Faculty Coordinator for 2007]
Assistant Dean, College of Science
email:
viaj@vt.edu
work phone: 540-231-5144
office location: 104 Science
Administration Building
notes:
Jerry W. Via is a native of Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated form
Roanoke College with a BS in 1971. His master’s in zoology was
awarded from the College of William and Mary in 1975, and he
completed his PhD degree in Zoology from Virginia Tech in 1979.
He was hired by the Biology department in 1979 to teach
introductory classes in biology to many freshmen. He also served
as an assistant to the department head in biology where he
served as a departmental advisor and worked with overall
operation and management of the department. He holds several
certificates of teaching excellence, and he was awarded the
Sporn award for excellence in teaching freshmen subjects and he
is a member of the Academy of Teaching Excellence. He served as
the assistant registrar for timetable and scheduling from
1984-1985. In 1987 he was hired the Coordinator for Academic
Advising for Student Athletes and developed a support and
monitoring program for student athletes, and he held this
position for 11 years. Currently, he is an assistant professor
of biology and teaches a large section of introductory biology
each semester. He also serves as the Assistant Dean for
Instruction for the College of Science and in this capacity he
visits with many prospective and current students. Jerry’s
specialty is the ecology and natural history of birds. He leads
many field trips around the state and to Costa Rica for bird
watchers. He gives many natural history presentations for bird
clubs and for the Virginia State Parks. He has also taught many
years in Elderhostel programs across the state of Virginia.
Jerry’s research interests focus on the breeding ecology of
colony nesting birds, and birds of the deciduous forests. He is
also very interested in bird songs and calls, and the biology of
neo-tropical birds.
Associate Professor of Spanish Antonio
Fernandez-Vazquez
email:
aferand@vt.edu
work phone: 540-231-8312
office location: 325 Major Williams Hall
office hours: Monday and Wednesday 11-12
by appointment
notes:
At Virginia Tech for 26 years, and a member of this University's
Academy of Teaching Excellence since 1990, my professional
interests include the practical applications of language and
culture, Spanish for oral proficiency, teaching Spanish-American
literature, culture and civilization classes, and directing the
Intensive Second Language Institute at Virginia Tech, now in its
21st year. Most of my resarch is on Cuban exile literature, and
includes the publication of the books Novelistica cubana de la
revolución escrita fuera de Cuba (Miami: Ediciones Universal,
1980), and Historia, ficción y exilio en las novelas de Hilda
Perara (New York: Peter Lang, 2005).
Over the years, I have had a strong interest in
interdisciplinary programs and proyects. Some of these include
the Spanish production of an audiotutorial instructional module
to help food production in developing countries, with plant
pathologist Dr. Robert Lambe, which identified forms of control
for the most common diseases of vegetables, grains and cereals;
and collaboration with Dr. J. Scarpaci on the development of the
Spanish version of his video "Urban Design and Planning in
Havana: an Historical Perspective." In 1996, I spearheaded the
effort to establish a collaborative M.A. in Area Studies, a
program that was implemented in 1998, and in which I served as
co-director for its first three years.
In Punta Cana, I plan to teach a course on the salient themes of
Spanish-American civilization and culture, with a particular
focus on the Caribbean.
Dr. Lisa Kennedy
email:
kennedy1@vt.edu
work phone: 540-231-1422
office location: 127 Major Williams Hall
office hours: Tuesday 12:30-1:30, Thursday
5-6:30, and by appointment
personal link:
http://www.geography.vt.edu/people/kennedy.htm
notes:
Hello students! I am delighted that you are interested in this
study abroad program. When I was an undergraduate, I took a
Tropical Biology field course in Costa Rica, which changed my
life and set me on the path to my present position as a teacher
and researcher of tropical environments. Experiences in foreign
places are nearly always life-changing in some way or another,
and help to round out our educations in important ways.
I am in my fifth year here in the Department of Geography at
Virginia Tech. My B.A. is from Indiana University, Indianapolis,
and I completed my M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of
Tennessee. I am a biogeographer interested especially in plant
geography and paleoecology. My research involves reconstructing
past environments, such as climate, fire, and human activities,
especially during the past several thousand years, known as the
Holocene period. Much of my research activity has been in the
field of tropical paleoecology analyzing pollen, charcoal, and
other microfossils preserved in lake and swamp sediments in rain
forests of Costa Rica and in the montane pine forests of the
Dominican Republic. I have also analyzed tree-rings (dendroecology)
of the endemic pines in the Dominican highlands to show that
this wood can be used to help reconstruct climate and fire
history of the past couple of centuries. And, I studied the
post-fire regeneration of vegetation in these pine forests,
which are vulnerable to frequent fires. Altogether, I have
participated in six field trips to the Dominican Cordillera
Central.
I am just beginning a new research program in the Dominican
lowlands focused on reconstructing the long-term history of
hurricane activity in the region based sediments from coastal
lakes and wetlands and will be visiting lowland areas this fall.
I teach the Introduction to Physical Geography (GEOG 1104) and
two graduate courses: Human Impacts on the Environment, and
Globalization of Nature, and advise undergraduates, four
graduate students, and the Geography Society (undergraduate
group interested in Geography). In this course, we will look at
basic concepts of physical geography and related environmental
issues, focusing on the Caribbean, and get some hands-on
experience in field work. More information is in "Course
Documents."
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