Nicholls professor hopes to make art more relevant to non-art students
A Nicholls State University professor hopes to make art and its study more accessible to those in other fields of study.
Dr. Ashley Busby said at a recent conference she does not believe art history has to put non-art majors to sleep.
Such was the discussion of a panel she presented at the Southeast College Art Conference hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University. The research came from her paper, “The Upper Level Fine Arts Survey: Interdisciplinary, Contemporary, and Thematic Approaches.”
Busby discussed two 300-level courses during the virtual panel, “The Art History Survey: How to Keep the Material Engaging for YOU.” One is a Nicholls Online cultural heritage art survey course, and the second a face-to-face art and science course.
A Nicholls State University professor has helped advance the study of climate change and its effect on coastal plant life in a newly published paper.
Giovanna McClenachan, assistant professor of biological sciences at Nicholls, along with Linda Walters and Megan Witt of the University of Central Florida, have published research studying the shift from salt marshes to mangroves in the coastlines along oyster reefs in Mosquito Lagoon, Florida.
While the research took place in Florida, McClenachan can see local applicable connections to the black mangrove population in coastal Louisiana and how mangroves are moving into other ecosystems.
“While few natural oyster reefs exist in Louisiana and those that do are subtidal, this research could potentially open our eyes to other climate-driven shifts that are right under our nose but we are overlooking,” she said.