Lessons in nature on the University of Richmond campus
Research & Innovation
Faculty and staff slowly walked the Eco-Corridor on the southern end of campus, between River Road and UR Drive, last spring. As they heard birds chirping and tweeting or spotted one landing on a branch, the group paused and lifted their binoculars in hopes of identifying the species.
Kylie Korsnack, assistant director of the Teaching & Scholarship Hub, helped organize the walk as an end-of-semester event and biology professor Priscilla Erickson guided it. Erickson also leads walks for the Richmond Audubon Society.
Birdwatching is one of many activities happening in the Eco-Corridor at any given time, along with academic research. In fact, more than a dozen classes have used the space as a component of their coursework. Erickson also uses the greenway as a living lab. She teaches Biology 202, a core course that introduces students to organismal physiology, ecology, and evolution. Her students visit the space several times each semester to conduct natural history observations and collect data.
While the Eco-Corridor evolved from Little Westham Creek’s restoration and began as an urban greenway for the University and the city, its usage continues to expand, including as an educational amenity.
“It’s a site for nature, teaching, and learning,” said Rob Andrejewski, director of sustainability. “Our faculty have leaned into that.”
Biology professor Kristine Grayson also uses the green space as part of her classes. While most of her students were aware of it, she said, that when asked, about 40% of her students last semester admitted they had never visited the site.
“Most of them had not heard about the extensive restoration work that was conducted or considered the features that have improved the quality of the habitat and watershed,” she said. “Ecological restoration isn’t a concept that you can just learn from a book or video. Being in the space is far more impactful.”
A year ago, English professor Elizabeth Outka and art professor Erling Sjovold co-taught the multidisciplinary seminar, Sensing Place: Art, Literature, and the Environment. Students conceptualized a micro-park for the space, and their work culminated in a small, bluebird sanctuary that also serves as a relaxation spot with Adirondack chairs and a pollinator garden.
In the past, Trey Sutton, associate professor of management, has required his environmental management students to write a proposal for how the University could use the Eco-Corridor to benefit UR stakeholders and raise money for its maintenance. He hopes to take his strategic management classes to the space this semester.
“Words and numbers and pictures, the common tools of education, are useful, but they’re all poor representatives of the real thing. Hearing or reading a word like ‘nature’ doesn’t usually conjure the multi-sensory experience of standing beside a stream, seeing where it’s coming from and where it’s going, and noticing the fish swimming in the water,” Sutton said. “It’s important to experience real life and not just talk about it with abstractions in a classroom.”
Todd Lookingbill, professor of geography, environment, and sustainability, used the space in a soundscape exercise during pre-orientation to compare noise in different parts of campus. During the semester, he will use the space to illustrate global concepts locally, like water pollution, the cooling capacity of green spaces, and carbon storage by trees.
“This type of experiential learning is at the core of geography’s curriculum,” Lookingbill said. “And the opportunity to explore the cutting-edge stream restoration provides fantastic research opportunities for students.”
The space also is a nice break from classroom learning. “Students seem to love being out there, probably for the same reasons we all like being out there,” Sutton said. “Most of us like being in nature. We seem to be wired that way.”