Stadium Woods: Natural heritage in the heart of Virginia Tech's campus

by LCI alumnus and Humphrey Fellow Andreza Silva de Andrade

Stadium Woods is home to over 50 ancient oaks.

BLACKSBURG, Va., Nov. 9, 2011 – For well over 200 years, regal oaks have stood on a knoll that now borders Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium. The 57 ancient oaks, each measuring more than 3 feet in diameter, form part of a unique, old growth forest in the heart of campus.


Latin American students visiting the university’s Cranwell International Center adjacent to the 20-acre Stadium Woods find the same migratory songbirds they hear back home. Besides hooded warblers, vireos, and some 62 other species of birds identified on the site, a pair of nesting Cooper’s hawks has been spotted there.

The small forest serves as a sort of rest stop and cafeteria for migrating birds. Local birdwatchers consider the woods an excellent spot for adding species to their lifetime lists.

“When the birds come here in the spring and fall, they’re hungry and underweight from their long journey,” said Sarah Karpanty, associate professor of wildlife in the College of Natural Resources and Environment. “They may stay at Stadium Woods for a day or for weeks.”

John Seiler, Alumni Distinguished Professor in the college, who has been conducting forestry labs in Stadium Woods for years, has permanent plots set up and tagged for regular tree measurement and identification exercises. If Stadium Woods did not exist, he would have a difficult time teaching some of his courses because transporting students to a public forest outside of town would consume the entire 50-minute class period.

“Stadium Woods is a true forest right on campus,” Seiler said. “Although we have trees and even groves around campus, Stadium Woods has the whole ecosystem, with a forest understory populated with plants, insects, and other creatures.”
In a spot surrounded by pavement and concrete buildings, Stadium Woods absorbs rainwater and cools the vicinity in summer. The 2009 Virginia Tech Master Plan Amendment identifies the site as an environmental and cultural greenway, defined as “a significant reservation of lands, waterways, tree stands, and cultural landmarks for future generations.”

Although Stadium Woods has remained relatively untouched during Virginia Tech’s 139-year history, married students were housed in trailers between the trees in one section during the enrollment explosion following World War II. Remnants of concrete sidewalks and porch foundations of “Cassell Heights” can be found in the woods just east of Cassell Coliseum.

Stadium Woods remains one of Virginia Tech’s best kept secrets. Jeff Kirwan, professor emeritus and forestry Extension specialist who co-authored the book “Remarkable Trees of Virginia,” has been exploring the woods for about 10 years. Impressed by what he saw, he persuaded the Virginia Master Naturalists to inventory the on site species. In addition to native species such as mayapple and black haw viburnum, they found invasive, nonnative species such as Asiatic bittersweet, English ivy, and multiflora rose, which need to be controlled. Kirwan enlisted the Virginia Tech Society of American Foresters Student Chapter, with help from the Virginia Tech Forestry Club and the honor society Xi Sigma Pi, to work on removing nonnative species at the site.

“The Virginia Tech Society of American Foresters Student Chapter was very excited to facilitate removal of invasive plant species this fall,” said Kyle Dingus of Warrenton, Va., a senior majoring in forest resource management in the College of Natural Resources and Environment and the chair of the student chapter. “We feel that restoring Stadium Woods to a natural state is a way to benefit the community and to help maintain a well-known ecological landmark. The chapter plans on continuing these efforts every year so that we can continue to support our community.”

The New River Valley Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists, the New River Valley Native Plant Society, and the New River Valley Bird Club have contributed a total of $1,500 for five signs to be posted in Stadium Woods indicating the ecological significance of the site.

“Stadium Woods is a natural heritage in the heart of Virginia Tech, a home to ancestral trees, and a refuge from the urban environment for birds and humans,” said Kirwan. “If people don’t realize how special it is, it will be used for other purposes. People need to think of it as the most historic thing we have in our community, more historic than any building or piece of paper. It is not only historic, it is alive.”

The College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top three programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty members stress both the technical and human elements of natural resources and the environment, and instill in students a sense of stewardship, land-use ethics, and large-scale systems problem solving. Areas of study include environmental resource management, fisheries and wildlife sciences, forestry, geospatial and environmental analysis, natural resource recreation, urban forestry, wood science and forest products, geography, and international development. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innovation, and results to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.

Written by Andreza Silva de Andrade, an environmental reporter from Brazil who interned with the College of Natural Resources and Environment while on a Humphrey Fellowship.

My Valdivia Travelogue III

By Georgia Wyche

I’m happy and relieved to say that things have somewhat changed at UACh since my arrival and my last journal entry. Faculty members, staff and administrators are fed up with the student’s refusal to attend classes, so the president of UACh has put his foot down and has decided that the second semester will begin on November 2nd. I teach my first Applied Linguistics class on November 2nd, so I’m very curious to see what will happen.

The Chilean students seem stubborn and probably won’t give up their fight until they feel their voices are heard. Along with the second semester beginning on November 2nd, there is also a campus wide student vote on whether classes should begin or not. Regardless of the results of the student vote, the president still wants to continue with the second semester. If the students vote “no” and we continue with second semester, this just means that some students will attend classes and others will not. This whole situation is very confusing!

In the meantime, I’m still teaching English classes to professors and honors students in the morning in the Virginia Tech/UACh center. Then, I spend the afternoon working with professors in the English pedagogy department. I’ve been working with Ms. Yasna Yilorm, an English pedagogy professor and supervisor to student teachers. During the strike, I’ve been going with Ms. Yilorn to different schools in Valdivia to observe UACh student teachers teaching English. It’s been an interesting experience because I’ve been able to observe both private and public schools. From my observations, I can tell that there is a huge division between socioeconomic classes in private and public schools. I’ve also noticed that there is a big problem with classroom management and that the class sizes are outrageous in both private and public. For example, the average class size of a public school English class in Chile is approximately 45 students. The student teacher’s biggest complaint is learning how to better manage their classroom and their students. Ms. Yilorn and I are working with the student teachers and specifically giving them guidance on classroom management.

Lately, we have had several faculty meetings in the English pedagogy department in preparation for the second semester. The end is near! I’m ready to finally teach Applied Linguistics. I’ll be teaching to students in their last year to become English teachers on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Since my arrival to Valdivia, I’ve been preparing for the Applied Linguistic classes. Unfortunately, none of the students attended classes on November 2nd because of the campus wide vote.

Update: Well, the results of the student vote are in and I’m glad to say that the students voted “yes”. This means that the students want to begin the second semester. I feel more relieved and look forward to teaching and meeting all of my applied linguistics students next Tuesday.

Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute expands, adds new programs and staff

Following is reprinted from the Oct. 27, 2011 edition of the Virginia Tech News.

Elsie Paredes, left, with Don Back and Amanda Johnson, right, in the
newly renovated lobby of the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute

BLACKSBURG, Va., Oct. 27, 2011 – With a 300 percent growth in student enrollment over last year and a doubling of office and classroom space, the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute is setting records as it carries out its mission of serving international students and others with language training.

“We were formerly known as the English Language Institute,” says Don Back, the institute’s director. “This was later changed to encompass not only the English-language training but also to include other languages as well as intercultural training and other related programs with international focus.”

Part of the university’s Outreach and International Affairs, the institute provides language-related programs and services for academic and professional development. A major clientele served consists of international students seeking admission to Virginia Tech and other major U.S. universities. The institute also partners with universities in Chile, China, and Haiti to help those institutions build capacity in English-language instruction.

With classrooms in Blacksburg as well as in Falls Church, Va., the institute hosts more than 500 students per year from more than 30 different countries.

Much growth has occurred in existing programs, but many new programs have been implemented as well. The Indonesian Scholars program, for instance, is in its second year of offering an eight-week course to help young leaders from that country develop English language proficiency and critical-thinking skills. Abroad, Georgia Wyche, one of the institute’s English instructors, is currently in Valdivia, Chile, where she is teaching faculty and students at Universidad Austral de Chile.

The institute has grown significantly not only in numbers of student enrollment but also in staff. Since the beginning of the year about a dozen new full-time staff members have been hired to create a total of 50 employees at the institute – a leap from the five staff members when Back first came to Virginia Tech five years ago.

Elsie Paredes is the institute’s new associate director. Having been a teacher for more than 20 years, her previous career was good training for her new role, which includes taking charge of the English program. “Providing workshops and seminars for the teams of professionals that visit gives me my dose of being a teacher. This was a perfect opportunity for me,” Paredes says.

With the need to service more students came a new student-advising center offering university admissions and immigration advising as well as guidance not related to academics. Students can consult with Diana Housein-Salaita, the international student advisor, on personal, immigration, or legal issues. The center also organizes an extensive array of student activities. Housein-Salaita came to the institute from Virginia Tech’s Cranwell International Center.

As assistant director for special programs, Amanda Johnson is in charge of testing services, foreign language training, and new initiatives. Before coming to Virginia Tech in August 2010, Johnson worked as a program director, instructor, and teacher trainer at an Ecuadorian school of foreign language and linguistics. Among the current projects Johnson oversees is a college-preparatory program for gifted students from Saudi Arabia, a cooperative effort with the College of Science.

The Humphrey Fellows Program is the institute’s flagship. Each year for the past four years, the institute has hosted this group of mid-career professionals from around the globe for a spring-and-summer immersion in English. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Humphrey Fellows have a busy schedule including class visits, community interactions, academic networking, and leadership training. The program is headed by Bert Wilson, an expert in China’s Uyghur minority. Wilson also directs a similar project for junior government officials from Turkey, who are taking English courses at Virginia Tech as well visiting local government offices.

“We’re looking forward to even more developments in the coming year,” Back says. “The institute contributes to the university’s diversity and intellectual capacity by helping to attract the best and brightest international students, scholars, and professionals to our community.”

Virginia Tech’s Outreach and International Affairs supports the university’s engagement mission by creating community partnerships and economic development projects, offering professional development programs and technical assistance, and building collaborations to enrich discovery and learning – all with the overarching goal of improving the quality of life for people within the commonwealth and throughout the world. Outreach and International Affairs leads Virginia Tech’s presence on five continents; its regional research and development centers across the commonwealth focus on graduate education and professional development. Blacksburg-based centers are dedicated to student engagement, language, policy, and governance.


Written by Yen Dinh, a senior from Alexandria, Va., who is a marketing major in the Pamplin College of Business with a minor in leadership and social change in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

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Senegal faculty train at the VTLCI

On September 29th, the Virginia Tech Language and Culture Institute saw off a group of twelve Senegalese participants involved in a ‘train the trainers’ (TOT) program. Focused on building English teaching capacity at a number of institutions in the country, the program is part of a broader ‘Feed the Future’ food security initiative being executed by the Office of International Research, Education and Development (OIRED). Seven of the thirteen universities that are working with OIRED in Senegal were represented among the VTLCI group.

Given that much of the literature and research on food security is only published in English, VTLCI’s role in this project is to enhance teaching of English as a foreign language at participating universities. Seminars and workshops for this group introduced on-line delivery of English instruction, techniques for teaching English with few resources, and teaching English for specific purposes - all against the backdrop of current language acquisition and adult learning theory.

Participants visited VTLCI intensive English classes, reviewed teaching materials, and began developing plans for applying their observations and learning back home. “The TOT format gave participants the opportunity to try out what they had learned in a safe, structured environment at the VTLCI.” said Amanda Johnson, program coordinator.  “Our group will help bolster English teaching back home in order to support delivery of content in the language. By improving English in the professoriate, we will in turn increase access to vital research on food security." 

Participants met at OIRED for final presentations, and to receive certificates, at the program graduation ceremony. Babacar Diop, an English language instructor at the University of Ziguinchor, with colleagues, presented on plans to implement their group's training outcomes in Senegal. “We have planted the tree of friendship and collaboration and we will all water it with correspondence and exchange until it grows up and gives the expected fruits to people of both nations,” said Diop. More training is being planned for 2012.

UACh Travelogue: My Adventure in Valdivia 2, by Georgia Wyche

Unfortunately, there still is not a lot going on in university campuses throughout Chile because of the national strike to reform education.  The semester dates and school year calendars are completely out of whack due to many months of striking and student protests. The second semester is supposed to begin in October, but nobody really knows. Things change in the Chilean news everyday and there are student protests every Thursday afternoon.  


Georgia at the Center for Languages, UACh

The situation in Chile has been frustrating for a lot of people at the university, including myself. Despite my frustrations, I am still very happy to be here representing Virginia Tech. Also, I have been able to keep myself busy. I’ve been teaching English classes on a daily basis, working with English teachers at the university and in the community, giving presentations on foreign language teaching methodology at the “Centro de Idiomas” and preparing lessons for my Applied Linguistics class. I’m also going to be volunteering and attending the upcoming TESOL conference, which will be hosted at UACh next week.

I’ve also met with many important people at Universidad Austral de Chile, including the university president, Mr. Victor L. Cubillos. Mr. Cubillos has actually requested that I give him English lessons. I’ll begin working with him in the coming weeks.  I’m excited about strengthening and building a new relationship between Virginia Tech and Universidad Austral de Chile.  

I’ve also met with the director of the American Corner of the UACh library. The American Corner is a special section in the library devoted to lovers of English language and American culture. The American Corner is funded by the American Embassy in Santiago de Chile. There are 12 other American Corners in different universities throughout Chile. Along with the American Corner, there is also the Australian Corner. I look forward to sharing and assisting with activities and projects at the American Corner during my stay in Valdivia.

I’ve arranged English classes for faculty members, including university administrators, deans and directors.  In addition, I’ve met with honors students, living in Valdivia, who would like to attend classes to improve their English skills while the university is on strike. The English classes I’m teaching primarily focus on speaking and listening skills.

Georgia with the foreign language instructors of UACh

I teach English classes to professors and faculty members from the veterinary, economics, engineering, architecture, medical, chemistry, biology schools and departments.  All of these are scholars attend my classes on a regular basis and are excited to build their confidence in conversational English. For example, they want to be able to speak English comfortably at a coffee break during an academic conference in an English speaking country. They want to be able to use everyday English at the post office, the supermarket, or at a friend’s party. The university professors are confortable with academic and technical terminology in English related to their field, but they want practice and help with everyday conversational English.  I’m happy to assist them in any way that I can while the university is on strike.

Along with teaching English classes to academics, I’ve assisted in editing and revising material to be presented at conferences and to market the university on an international level.  I’m eager to assist in more of these projects and activities because they serve to strengthen the relationship between UACh and Virginia Tech.

I’m also going to be teaching an Applied Linguistics class to students in their last year of study to be English teachers at UACh. Initially, I was only going to teach this class during part of the second semester, but now due to the strike I’ll be teaching the class during the entirety of the second semester. I’m excited about this teaching opportunity and new challenge.   

Tech hosts 32 Senegalese professors

Tuesday, September, 20, 2011; 10:30 PM
by Donal Murphy, news staff writer, Collegiate Times

ERA Participants at OIRED

Virginia Tech is hosting 32 research representatives from Senegal to teach them about agriculture, language training and e-learning to help combat food security issues — knowledge they will bring back to their country’s farmers.

Since 2007, food security issues stemming from food price spikes, with subsequent riots, have been prevalent in Senegal, a country in western Africa — although 75 percent of its population works in the agriculture, it imports 70 percent of its rice, according to the Tech Office of International Research, Education and Development.

The same year, led a consortium — consisting of Perdue, Michigan State and Tuskegee universities, as well as the University of Connecticut — to create a proposal for the United States Agency for International Development to help Senegal with the food security issues.

Tech later received a $28-million grant from USAID through the Feed the Future initiative.The representatives visiting Tech are all professors and Senegalese experts in agriculture and education through the Senegal Education et Recherche en Agriculture Program.

Four Tech employees have been working with the Senegalese representatives for about six months to prepare them for the program.

Patrick Guilbaud, a curricula, education and training coordinator in Senegal, is Tech’s representative in Dakar, Senegal, serving as the primary liaison between the university and the 13 participating Senegalese institutions.

“This is really a broad based effort to kind of get all partners to fully understand that agriculture has many levels,” he said. “By putting emphasis on all aspects, we’ll be able to have a greater system for Senegal where food security is more emphasized.”

Guilbaud, who was born in Haiti, but raised and educated in the United States, has been working for OIRED for four years. He moved to Senegal to oversee the program’s foreign aspects.
“Being a person who was born in Haiti, I am very aware about food and food security, and how that affects the population,” he said.

The representatives are split into three groups — agriculture, English as a foreign language, and e-learning and pedagogy. Since the initiative’s concentration is food security, the overall theme is agriculture and biological information.

The agriculture group has been traveling around Virginia, visiting farms, agricultural centers and markets to learn about the American agricultural production and agronomics system of agricultural production and agronomics, said Demba Mbaye, a visiting professor.

The EFL group is training to teach English to students in Senegal, given that much of the material on food security is only published in that language.

“They’ll have content-based classes where they’re going to have to be teaching English and learning content at the same time,” said Amanda Johnson, the EFL coordinator for the program

The courses are tailored to each representative’s English level, as it is a “train the trainers” program.

“For us, it is more learning how to use the technologies to better the teaching and make it more attractive and more challenging,” said Babacar Diop, an English professor at the Université de Ziguinchor in Senegal, who is currently participating in the program as an EFL group member.

Diop was in the U.S. for six months prior to this trip with the International Leaders Communication program in Minneapolis, Minn.

“My thought now, though the program is not yet finished, is that we’ve learned a lot of new things, a lot of new sites we were introduced to,” he said. “(They are) very interesting and important tools to enhance our teaching practices.”

The e-learning and pedagogy group is studying how to use Internet sites and computer software to help with course availability. Many of the participating universities in Senegal are in areas with minimal infrastructure, making traveling to the schools difficult. Therefore, many students opt to take courses online.

The professors are being trained to use Moodle, a learning platform similar to Scholar, and other software programs that make teaching online courses easier. Fan (Luisa) Li, a graduate assistant for the OIRED, is leading the group.

“I feel that it is really interesting,” said Mariama Sene-Wade, a parasitology and biology professor at the Universite Gaston-Berger in Saint-Louis Senegal. “It is very important to meet all these people, to see what they are doing for the school — it’s a good thing.”

Li is participating in the program as a member of the e-learning and pedagogy group.
The program is also addressing gender equity — a major issue in agriculture.

“If you go to do a project with the farmers, you teach them how to deal with the crops, and you have to understand who is actually doing the work in the fields,” Li said.
Because women do most of the agriculture labor in Senegal, information is frequently lost when a husband teaches a wife.

This topic is being addressed through a gender workshop, led by VT Advance. It discusses the issues of gender equity and how it can be used for agriculture. The group is mostly male but has several female representatives as well.

Tech plans to continue this program, possibly bringing a larger group of representatives for a longer period next year, if it is covered under the USAID grant

Link for story: http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/18285/tech-hosts-32-senegalese-professors/p1

UACh Travelogue: My Adventure in Valdivia 1, by Georgia Wyche

Georgia Wyche, an English instructor at the VTLCI, was selected to work nine months at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) in Valdivia, Chile. In Chile, she will provide English classes to faculty, staff and students in cooperation with the Center for the Sciences and Global Sustainability and the School of English Language Pedagogy. Over the coming months, Georgia will write about her experiences in Valdivia.

This installment:  August 23 – August 28, 2011 

 My adventure in Valdivia, Chile has just begun. Yesterday, Loreto Quintana and Dr. German Reinhardt of the Center for the Sciences and Global Sustainability at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) picked me up at the airport. I was very lucky because they both welcomed me with open arms and were extremely helpful and hospitable. Of course I was exhausted after the long journey to Valdivia from Blacksburg, so they took me directly to my cabin located near the university.  I like the fact that most everything is within walking distance from my cabin.  Last night, I had a fairly good night’s sleep despite the cold weather. It’s quite an adjustment coming from summer in the northern hemisphere to winter in the southern hemisphere.

Today was my first full day to get out and enjoy Valdivia.  Loreto picked me up and we went to the supermarket and to a little shopping area.  It was very foggy this morning. Fortunately, the fog lifted and the sun came out around 11. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous today which seems to be out of the ordinary for the city. I guess I brought the sunshine with me. After shopping with Loreto, she drove me around downtown and the campus of UACh. I really enjoyed the tour, but of course it is a little overwhelming at first when you are trying to take in everything with every little detail.  Loreto brought me back to my place around lunchtime, so I made a simple lunch of pasta with marinara sauce and a banana.  I took a little siesta and then decided to take a nice long walk around downtown Valdivia myself.

Valdivia Fresh Market

The river Calle Calle divides Isla Teja and downtown Valdivia into two parts, so there is a bridge that connects both sides. While walking over the bridge, I admired the scenery around me, in particular the Calle Calle River and the sea lions. I was amazed to see these three large sea lions sprawled out on a dock in the river.  Once you are over the bridge, there is the large outdoor seafood, fruit and vegetable market on the boardwalk along the waterfront. I walked around and explored the market area and then kind of walked aimlessly through the downtown. I went into a few shops and observed the Chilean people in action. I felt very safe and didn’t feel too much like an outsider. The Chilean people seem to be very warm and open.  I look forward to meeting some new friends and becoming more proficient in Spanish.

My evening in Valdivia ended perfectly. Loreto and her family invited me to have dinner at their home. She prepared a traditional Chilean completo.  A completo is similar to an American hotdog, but it is bigger with more toppings.  Of course, we drank good Chilean beer with our completos. I really enjoyed this evening meal with Loreto and her family.

The atmosphere in Valdivia and throughout Chile is a little out of the ordinary these days due to the students and labor unions striking and holding demonstrations demanding equality and changes nationwide.  Everyday life is in turmoil these days.

I felt very welcome at my first formal meeting at UACh (Center for the Sciences and Global Sustainability). My colleagues are Loreto Quintana, Dr. German Reinhardt Vater, Claudio Gutierrez, and Sandor Mulsow. Next week, I begin conversation classes with students and faculty members. I’ll also observe and teach English classes at Hampton College, which is a bilingual (English-Spanish) K-12 private school located in Valdivia. Sandor Mulsow is the director of Hampton College. I’m looking forward to these teaching experiences and strengthening the relationship between Virginia Tech and Universidad Austral de Chile.

Next week is my first official workweek at UACh. I have several meetings scheduled. I am happy to be working despite the strike in Chile. Monday, I’m spending the day at a private bilingual (Spanish-English) school called Hampton College. My UACh colleague, Sandor Mulsow, works and is one of the founders of this bilingual private school. On Tuesday, I’m meeting with UACh faculty members who want help with their English. On Wednesday, I’m meeting with some UACh students who want informal English training until the strike is over and the university re-opens. On Thursday, I’m meeting with Andrea Lizasoain, the Applied Linguistics professor, to formulate a syllabus for next semester. I may be teaching applied linguistics the entire semester depending on when the national strike is over.  Planning and teaching applied linguistics is a challenge that I look forward to doing. I’m looking forward to working, meeting new people and having new experiences this upcoming week in Valdivia at UACh.

Wyche is featured on the UACh Veterinary School website, which describes the relationship between the VTLCI and UACh.