Saint Michael's student Patrick Crannell of Waitsfield presents research at Geographical Society Conference

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Patrick Crannell of Waitsfield presents research at geography conference

COLCHESTER, VT (10/22/2012)(readMedia)-- At the geography conference the topic ranged from hydraulic fracturing to the impact a mardi gras or jazz festival on urban spaces. Saint Michael's College Professor of Geography Richard Kujawa of South Burlington and two of his students presented their research at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the New England and Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society held at the University of Maine in Farmington, October 19-20.

Festivals and urban spaces

Patrick Crannell of Waitsfield, Vt., a senior English major and human geography minor presented a paper titled "Festivals and Urban Public Space: Economic Imperatives and the Social Construction of An Ephemeral Community." The paper drew on insights from theorists Ferdinand Tonnies, Georg Simmel and Michel Foucault among others in considering the ways contemporary festival events in cities transform social relations. He showed "that the urban festival can provide moments of unity or moments that enforce the solidarity of urban life."

Exploring the Mardi Gras of New Orleans, the North Sea Jazz Festival, Sydney's pre-Olympic festivals and the Edinburgh Fringe festival, he showed "the universality of a 'placeless' culture" with social relationships that are symbolic of a city's economic agenda and vision of Western society.

Patrick Crannell, the son of Suzanne Szermer, graduated from Don Bosco Prep before coming to Saint Michael's.

New Environmental Studies Course

Professor Richard Kujawa also presented a paper which drew on his collaborative teaching with Professor Laura Stroup. The paper, "Superfund, the Toxic Release Inventory, TOXMAP, and Teaching: Something for everyone?" reported on the development and implementation of a curricular unit which linked environmental health and toxicology, environmental law and explorations of the relational databases and GIS maps of the EPA and National Library of Medicine. Kujawa also met with researchers from the Maine EPSCoR team to complement his work on the Regional Adaptation to Climate Change project funded by Vermont EPSCoR.

Meeting with Nobel Laureate Robert Kates

The professor and his students, Dr. Kujawa, Nick Rucci and Patrick Crannell,met in person and attend a plenary session with Nobel Prize Winner Robert Kates, Presidential Professor of Sustainability Science at the University of Maine, who discussed his professional career path and involvement in four cycles of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. Identified by the Princeton Review, 2013 as one of the nation's Best 377 Colleges, and included in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013, Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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