Honorary Magazine 2018-19

Faculty Spotlight with Arthur Kneeland

What was your favorite Colloquium?

I feel like I have enjoyed them all. The most recent one on the Great Lakes was excellent as it was an environmental science topic as well as something I am intimately connected to. I also remember en- joying reading Dracula a lot! One piece of advice for students? Be engaged, talk to your teachers. Most of us are humans, and if you treat us like humans, we will often respond accordingly. The more you can hu- manize yourself to your teachers, the more likely they are to go an extra mile to help you out. What’s your favorite to teach in your Honors courses? It isn’t anything to do with my course content I love about teaching an Honors section, it is the conver- sations that take us down new interesting pathways that I hadn’t thought about. This leads to new areas to explore with the class and rethinking of old dusty ideas that I had maybe taken for granted. I don’t feel like any idea is sacred. I want to open all of them up and explore what the underlying assump- tions are. This doesn’t happen much normally, and sometimes in an honors section it can be delightful, although sometimes it is hard and uncomfortable, and that is great! Fun facts about Arthur: He grew up in northern Sweden from the age of 10 till 16. He is the organizer of the St. Valentines Day Hustle bike race each year. Can frequently be seen in Menomonie Theatre Guild productions, most recently How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying . He is a UW-Stout alumnus. (Class of 2006 in Applied Science). Current research project: Exploring the possible reintroduction of wild rice in the watershed as an environmentally and eco- nomically sustainable strategy to remove excess nu- trients from the lakes and improve water quality in the region.

Arthur Kneeland, entomologist in the biology deparment, teaches Plants & People for the Honors College as well as Science, the Environment, and Sustain- ability . He also co-directs the LAKES Research Experience for Undergradu- ates program, serves as the sustainabil- ity minor advisor, is the technical advi- sor to the UW-Sprout campus garden, and is a frequent Honors contract men- tor. He has previously been awarded the UW-Stout Educator of the Year and is always encouraging students to better understand their place in the world and their role in the environment around us. We had the opportunity to ask him a few questions to learn more about one of our favorite Honors professors!

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25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION