SoMAS Lecturer Kurt Bretsch has been named a recipient of this year’s Provost Outstanding Lecturer Award. This prestigious award, instituted in 2012, recognizes lecturers who have made outstanding contributions to the university as evidenced by the quality of the individual’s teaching, service, and related professional development.
Kurt arrived in SoMAS in 2008. Since then, he has taught nine different courses in SoMAS, all with tremendous devotion, creativity, and great student satisfaction. Beyond classrooms, Kurt has played a key role in advising SoMAS undergraduates, designing and nurturing the Semester by the Sea program, and improving our education programs such as recruitment, web design and advertising, seminars, and more. Kurt is very proud of the Semester by the Sea program and has the following to say about it:
This program provides Stony Brook and visiting upper level undergraduates with a semester or year-long immersive experience in the marine sciences, living and learning at the Southampton campus where they explore Long Island’s diverse coastal marine habitats, organisms, and culture. Our new waterfront Marine Station and fleet of research and teaching vessels provide direct access to nearby bays and the open ocean. The fall program occurs during our active field season when students spend much of their time in, on, and by the water in 3 core courses: Long Island Marine Habitats; Maritime Traditions of New England; and Coastal Cultural Experience and in 2 electives selected from Southampton offerings: Ichthyology; Experimental Marine Biology; Physical Oceanography; Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation; and Chemical Oceanography. Many students also work closely in research labs at Southampton, or in internships with local marine or environmental organizations. Initiated as a non-residential program in fall 2011, the Semester by the Sea has seen steady growth and is now a residential program which allows students additional opportunities to explore the coastal setting and culture of the east end. In addition, a spring Semester by the Sea has been created which allows students to live at the Southampton campus and participate in courses such as Aquaculture; Marine Conservation; Biological Oceanography; Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rehabilitation; Bioacoustics; and Environmental History in Global Perspective. The intense field and laboratory marine activities, combined with the shared experiences of the tight-knit cohort, likely contribute to the high student praise with many reporting that it is their “best semester at Stony Brook!”
We are truly privileged to have faculty such as Kurt who make SoMAS a great choice of undergraduate study. For more information about the Semester by the Sea program, or the 2 week summer Oceanography course he also teaches, please contact Kurt.Bretsch@stonybrook.edu.
Kurt (7th from the left) with his Semester by the Sea students
