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Bee Hives

Bee hives are installed on Dickinson's campus. Photo by Carl Socolow '77.

Examining the importance of bees and beekeeping

A panel of experts will explore the significance of bees and beekeeping from a variety of perspectives, including the bee cooperative at Dickinson, during a discussion entitled “Bees and Beekeeping Today.” It will be held Wednesday, March 1, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter (ATS) Auditorium.

The panel will examine how bees are important to the environment and economy as well as how bees influence food production and culture. Panelists will also delve into why bees are disappearing at an alarming rate. The panel includes Olivia Bernauer, a graduate student at the University of Maryland; Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, a beekeeper and professor emerita at Rhode Island College; Rodney Morgan, a local beekeeper; Samuel Ramsey, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland; and Marcus Welker, projects coordinator at Dickinson’s Center for Sustainability Education.

As a graduate student, Bernauer works in the University of Maryland’s vanEngelsdorp Bee Lab. Her research currently focuses on the most valuable pollinator plants for the native pollinators in Maryland.

Fluehr-Lobban has been a beekeeper since 2003 and gives annual lectures for the urban agriculture program at Brown University as a beekeeping educator. Fluehr-Lobban was the driving force behind the installation of beehives for public education at Rhode Island College in Providence in 2010.

Morgan has been a beekeeper for the last 10 years. He currently manages between 35 and 50 beehives throughout the year. Several of these hives are located at the Dickinson College Farm.

Ramsey is a student of entomology and focuses his studies on how insect research can benefit the public through development of integrated pest management strategies and STEM outreach initiatives. His most recent work focuses on the effects of honey bee parasites on individual and colony-level survivorship, specifically targeting the Varroa destructor parasite.

Welker has master’s degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology from Dartmouth College. He learned to keep honeybees while completing his studies. Welker leads The Hive, Dickinson’s bee cooperative living laboratory, which launched in 2016.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability Education, the Department of Biology and the Food Studies Certificate Program.

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Published February 27, 2017