Associate dean, in collaboration with professor of geography, receives university grant to develop Sophomore Scholars in Residence program

Dr. David Kitchen, associate dean and associate professor of continuing studies in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, has been awarded a University grant with Dr. Todd Lookingbill, assistant professor of geography and the environment in the School of Arts and Sciences, to develop and teach a new Sophomore Scholars in Residence (SSIR) program.

The course that earned the grant, “Extract and Conserve: Protected Lands of the American West,” will be among those offered to sophomores in the SSIR program.

Students in the SSIR program are sophomores in residence from the Schools of Arts & Sciences, Business and Leadership Studies.

SSIR courses are taught by dedicated and talented faculty members who serve as mentors to students within the SSIR community, guiding them in their research and academic pursuits.

Faculty members prepare the experiential learning components for students and travel with them over weekends and breaks on planned community trips. While faculty members do not reside with the SSIR community, many hold office hours in the residence halls, teach in residence hall classrooms, and have meals with the students.

Kitchen is associate dean of strategic planning and summer programs. Lookingbill is also an assistant professor of biology.