Hollis Lectures in Environmental Studies

The Hollis Lectures were established through the generosity of the Hollis Foundation. The Hollis Lectures bring one nationally recognized practitioner/scholar to Colby per semester to present their views on major issues in the interdisciplinary field of environmental studies. 

Fall 2012
"The Foundation Principles of Sustainability"
Dr. Thomas Wessels, Antioch College

Tom Wessels is an ecologist and founding director of the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. He is the current chair of The Center for Whole Communities that fosters inclusive communities that are strongly rooted in place and where all people—regardless of income, race, or background—have access to and a healthy relationship with land. He is former chair of the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation that fosters environmental leadership through graduate fellowships and organizational grants. He served as an ecological consultant to the Rain Forest Alliance’s SmartWood Green Certification Program. In that capacity Tom helped draft green certification assessment guidelines for forest operations in the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Tom has conducted landscape level workshops throughout the United States for over 30 years. His books include: Reading the Forested Landscape, The Granite Landscape, Untamed Vermont, The Myth of Progress, and Forest Forensics: A Field Guide to Reading the Forested Landscape.

 

Spring 2012
"Journey into Climate"
Dr. Paul Mayewski, Director of the Climate Change Institute

Dr. Paul Andrew Mayewski is director and professor of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine. He is an internationally acclaimed scientist and explorer, leader of >50 expeditions to some of the remotest reaches of the planet (eg., Antarctica, Arctic, Himalayas, Andes). His scientific achievements appear in >300 publications plus a climate change book written for the public, “The Ice Chronicles – The quest to understand global climate change” and a new book, “The Journey - Adventure, the golden age of climate research and the unmasking of human innocence”. Examples of his honors include: the first-ever internationally awarded Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research, the Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Medal, the Seligman Crystal from the International Glaciological Society, an honorary PhD from Stockholm University and a private audience in the Forbidden City (Beijing, China). He has developed several highly prominent national and international research programs; developed numerous outreach efforts (eg., with the American Museum of Natural History and the Boston Museum of Science), and appeared hundreds of times in public including NOVA, BBC, PBS, ABC and several segments with CBS “60 Minutes”.

Fall 2011
"The Future of Conservation"
Dr. Eric Dinerstein, Chief Scientist, World Wildlife Fund

Eric Dinerstein is WWF’s Chief Scientist and Vice President for Science. He is a co-author of the Global 200, an analysis to identify the most biologically important ecoregions on Earth. He also is a co-author of several books and many peer-reviewed papers on conservation biology topics. Eric wrote Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations, which won the 2007 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books. Most recently, he joined a team of conservationists working through the Global Tiger Initiative of the World Bank to help double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

Archive of past Hollis Lectures.