Faculty Convocation
Marcia Bjørnerud, Lawrence University professor of geology and Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies
“Geomimicry: Good Design from the Earth”
Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 11:10 a.m.
Marcia Bjørnerud appears on this year's series as the first recipient of Lawrence's new Faculty Convocation Award, which honors a faculty member for professional excellence. A geologist who specializes in mountain building processes, Bjørnerud is the author of two books, the science textbook “The Blue Planet” and 2005’s “Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth,” a storyteller’s history of the Earth and the toll human activity is exacting on the planet. Since its initial release, “Reading the Rocks” has been reprinted in French, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese as well as a Braille edition. Bjørnerud was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and has been the recipient of two Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards which supported research expeditions to New Zealand in 2009 and Norway in 2000.
She was recognized at 2007’s commencement with Lawrence’s Excellence in Scholarship or Creative Activity Award, which recognizes the importance of excellence in scholarly and creative work for advancing the mission of Lawrence and honors a faculty member whose work exemplifies the ideals of the teacher-scholar.
She joined the Lawrence faculty in 1995 after six years with the geology department at Miami University in Ohio. She was instrumental in establishing the college’s environmental studies program as a major in 2000, and served as its director through 2006.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in geophysics at the University of Minnesota, Bjørnerud earned a master’s and a doctorate degree in geology at the University of Wisconsin.
