Local Urban Ecology Expert to Speak at Oglethorpe

ATLANTA (March 14, 2008) – Oglethorpe University’s Urban Ecology Program hosts guest lecturer Andrew Dannenberg, M.D., MPH, associate director for science for the Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services in the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Tuesday, March 25, in Lupton Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

   Dr. Dannenberg will discuss how Health Impact Statements can help urban planners to improve a population's health. He is currently examining the health aspects of community design including land use, transportation, urban planning and other issues related to the built environment. Dr. Dannenberg is also an adjunct professor of epidemiology and of environmental and occupational health at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Dannenberg received a medical degree from Stanford University and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University. He completed a family medicine residency at the Medical University of South Carolina.

   Oglethorpe’s Urban Ecology Program teaches students how to integrate natural science and social science so they are prepared to handle complex problems arising in rapidly urbanizing areas, like Atlanta. Dr. Roarke Donnelly, assistant professor of biology at Oglethorpe and program chair, explains, “Growth often degrades natural resources and creates inequities in standards of living, quality of education and allocation of taxes. Growth management can eliminate or reduce these impacts, but only if it is based on the interacting facets of natural and social science that drive urban expansion.”

   To produce scientists and managers that will effectively manage future urban growth, schools must offer educational programs that integrate natural and social sciences. Oglethorpe University’s Urban Ecology Program offers this interdisciplinary experience in the city of Atlanta, where outdoor experiments, guest speakers and internship opportunities become the classroom. For more information on this lecture please call 404.504.1978.