Meetings & Program Schedule
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Meetings start at
7:00
P.M. - Room 102, Yates Hall, (across from the North end of PSU football
stadium) at 1702 S.
Joplin St., Pittsburg, KS. Click here for a
PSU campus map. Click here
for a Yahoo map. |
| Thursday September 30, 2010 |
"Antarctica
and the Chilean Fjords" - A slide presentation by
Rod & Ellen Sallee on their Antarctica
expedition cruise and Chilean
Fjords aboard the ms Nordnorge. Including naturalist-guided shore
excursions by PolarCirkel boats to 8 landing sites observing penguins,
seabirds, whales, seals; encounters with pods of killer whales,
humpback whales, elephant seals, Antarctic Terns, Kelp gulls, Blue-eyed
shags, Black-browed albatross and many other birds. Also
information
about the trip's visit to Buenos Aires and Ushuaia Argentina (the
World’s End) and the post cruise trip in Chile beginning in Punta
Arenas where they saw Magellanic Penguins and visited Torres Del Paine
National Park and Patagonia. Ellen retired from Shepherdstown University, on the banks of the Potomac River, in Shepherdstown, WV where she was a Professor of Education and served as the Chair of the Department of Education. Rod retired from the U.S. Forest Service after nearly 40 years federal service, with his last assignment of 13 years on the Forest Management staff in the Forest Service’s Washington D.C. National Headquarters. |
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October 28, 2010 |
Black-footed
Ferrets in Kansas by Pat Silovsky, who received her
Master's Degree from Pittsburg State in 1986, and soon
after became Director of the Milford Nature Center, Milford, KS, a position
she still holds. She was a founding member of P.S.U. Nature Reach
and has been a leader in Kansas conservation and education. In 1996
she was awarded Conservation Educator of the Year award from Kansas Wildlife
Federation and in 2009 a co-recipient of the Distinguished Professional Interpreter Award, Region Six, from the National Association for Interpretation. She is regular contributor to Kansas Wildlife, the KDW&P magazine, and the editor of "On TRACKS", a newsletter published several times a year for teachers. |
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November 2010 |
Due to conflict with Thanksgiving and Christmas, the November and December meetings have been combined, and held on December 2, 2010. |
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December 2, 2010 |
“Life in Old Nairobi”, by Suzanne Arruda, who is a writer, educator, and nature enthusiast. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (Purdue), and two Master’s degrees (Kansas State and Washburn). She, her husband Joe, and their two sons came to Pittsburg in 1988. Suzanne subsequently has taught various biology and physical science courses at St. Mary’s-Colgan and Pittsburg State University. She is the author of several magazine articles, and in 2006 started publishing a series of popular adventure mysteries set in post WW I colonial Africa, which she has researched exhaustively, including a journey to Morocco. Her sixth and recently published "The Crocodile's Last Embrace" has received accolades from the critics such as “rip-roaring,” “ enormously fun,” and “don't miss this one!” Her presentation to Audubon, “Life in Old Nairobi,” will draw on her enthusiasm for the culture and environment of this fascinating place and time. Suzanne's novels will be available for purchase at the meeting. |
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January 27, 2011 |
“Pittsburg Bats in Peril", by Rick Laas. Rick got his BS degree at PSU in 1975 studying bats under Dr. Horace Hays. For the past 20 years Lass has been employed at Interstate Exterminators but he maintains his interest in bats. The city of Pittsburg's run-off water drainage system once held a sizable population of the endangered Gray Bat. With concern over their shrinking numbers, possibly caused by the "white nose syndrome" (a fungal growth around their muzzle), last fall Rick led officials from the KDW&P's to roost sites to gain some insight into the problem. |
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February 24, 2011 |
"Snails",
by Dr. Joe Arruda, who came to Kansas in 1974 from
Massachusetts to study ecology at Kansas State University where he
earned his master's degree examining the ecology of farm ponds.
He continued his studies at KSU to earn his doctoral degree, studying
the effect of suspended sediments (mud) on the feeding ecology of
zooplankton like the water flea Daphnia living in large federal
reservoirs. A short post-doctoral followed at KSU then moved to
Topeka where he worked almost 5 years as a water quality biologist at
the Kansas Department of Health. At KDHE, he conducted or directed
studies of the effects of sources of pollution on biological and
chemical water quality in streams and lakes throughout the
state, as well as developing regulations. In 1988, he began a
position at Pittsburg State University where general water quality
studies have continued. Most recently, seeking to focus more on
the organism than the system, he has developed an interest in the
biology of land snails - a common, if hidden, member of our natural and
human landscape. |
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March 31, 2011 |
PSU's Dr. Cindy Ford, talks about "Big Bend National Park" in Texas. Cindy has been with Pittsburg State University since 1985 when she and her husband, Steve, arrived in southeast Kansas. She developed and directed Nature Reach for about eight years and has taught numerous university biology courses, including Regional Natural History, Environmental Life Science, and others. She has a B.A. in Biology, a M.S. in Geosciences, and a Ph.D. in Science Education. Cindy enjoys the outdoors while hiking, gardening, and traveling and has made the trip to Big Bend National Park four times and there is more to see. |
| Thursday April 28, 2011 |
Rick Hines on his recent trip to Tanzania, the herd animal migrations and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. More will be posted later. |
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May 26, 2011 6-9 P.M. |
Sperry-Galligar Audubon Picnic, this year held on a Thursday at Homer Cole Pittsburg Community Center, 3003 North Joplin in Pittsburg, KS. |
| Summer Hiatus | SGAS will not hold regular meetings in the months of June, July & August. |
