Bulletin 2007-2008 - Austin College

Students of the Posey Leadership Institute commit to monthly community service,interact with an off-campus mentor from a corporate or community organization,and lead a special project or a cohort group as a capstone experience. Members ofthe institute are also required to observe leadership in other cultures as part of aninternational educational experience.Environmental Research Areas and Field LaboratoriesAustin College is fortunate to own five pieces of property in Grayson County thatserve as research areas, field laboratories, and nature preserves. The Barry BucknerBiological Preserve and Research Area is a biologically diverse 115-acre site containingnative deciduous forest, pine forest, sandstone outcrops, and successional communities.The Lee Harrison Bratz Field Laboratory, located on the sandy soil of the EastCross Timbers vegetational area, is a 76-acre site that consists primarily of deciduousforest, including both upland and bottomland vegetation. The Clinton and Edith SneedEnvironmental Research Area, a 100-acre site in the Blackland Prairie vegetationalarea, is adjacent to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge; this property includes asmall native prairie plot and three ponds. The Sneed ERA is the site of an extensiveeffort to restore native prairie vegetation. The Garnett Prairie is a 60-acre tract, alsoin the Blackland Prairie zone; it includes a 10-acre tract of intact native prairie. TheMcCarley Woods Nature Preserve is a 12-acre site that is primarily upland hardwoodforest. These field sites serve as outdoor laboratories for students and faculty inbiology and environmental studies to examine organisms in a natural setting. Theproximity of these sites to the campus and to one another facilitates comparativestudies and long-term research projects. A number of courses including AnimalBehavior, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Ecosystem Ecology, Plant Biology, and VertebrateBiology use the areas for field trips, class projects, and individual research.Robert L. Snider Memorial Social Science LabThe purpose of the Social Science Lab (SSLab) is to improve and make more relevantthe education of social science students by stimulating and encouraging the use ofresearch as a teaching and learning device. It is currently located in Hopkins CenterRoom B2. It was dedicated during the sesquicentennial homecoming in honor of oneof the early student coordinators, Robert L. Snider ’72, who helped establish internshipsand resource connections with a metroplex company. The SSLab typically employsthree or four students during the academic year with some summer internships.Field and laboratory research is incorporated as a regular part of the social sciencecourses in an interdisciplinary environment for students and faculty interested inempirical research. Through the SSLab, students can observe political and socialbehavior, formulate hypotheses about human behavior, test these hypotheses bysurvey research techniques, and acquire a more immediate and realistic sense ofthe structure and needs of the community.Research Practicum in Social Science LabIn certain social science disciplines the department’s sophomore, junior, and seniorstudents may take a one-fourth course credit research practicum at the SSLab orunder an appropriate professor utilizing the SSLab resources. Such work extendsover a whole fall term, January term, spring term, or summer term and may be repeatedfor credit up to a total of one course credit unit. The research practicum isdesigned so that students may experience social science techniques by working onresearch projects while gaining an in-depth understanding of a particular area.ACADEMIC PROGRAM| 57