Three Creighton professors addressed the notion of resilience in biological and sociocultural terms when they spoke Nov. 17 in a sustainability forum about their research on Nebraska’s Sandhill landscape.
Mary Ann Vinton, associate professor of biology, Jay Leighter, associate professor of communication studies and John O’Keefe, professor of theology, gave their departments’ perspectives of the natural area during “The Nebraska Sandhills in Interdisciplinary Perspective” to a crowd gathered in the Skutt Student Center.
The research of all three faculty members was focused on the combined dynamics the unique landscape offers and was influenced by the faculty teaching in interdisciplinary fields.
Leighter said the project was inspired by recent committee work with the university, which led the three to ask if they could start a project they all wanted — one focusing on the environment.
Vinton’s familial ties to the Sandhills made it accessible while offering “biologically unique areas” to study from a conservation point of view that are intimately linked to cultural surroundings, she said.
Vinton collected approximately 35 plant species from the grassy area near the Dismal River, which impacts the landscape’s various wet and dry valleys.
She also used satellite data and images from drones to document changes in grass cover in the land.
Leighter focused not on biology, but on the people — namely ranchers and their families — who live in the area.
He conducted interviews and then interpreted what the statements said about the people.
For example, many locals told stories of stacking hay. Leighter said this reveals the cultural values of working hard, working together and being a family.
O’Keefe started crafting a documentary on the area and its inhabitants, filming shots of the landscape as the sun rose and recording interviews of his own.
O’Keefe explained he wants to bring the land and the people together. He plans to make the sky a character contrasted with the land while incorporating current threats to the ecosystem and how people in the area preserve their land.
Daniel Young, a freshman in the Heider College of Business, is from the Sandhills area and said that it’s nice to see people drawn to studying the isolated, peaceful community.
“It’s good that people are taking interest in where I grew up,” Young said.
All three faculty members agreed these individual projects are working together for a greater whole in interdisciplinary work.
“If you only hang out with people in your department, you’ll never learn anything,” said O’Keefe.
This research addresses many questions about the environment and sustainability while acknowledging that “none of us know the answers on our own,” said Leighter. “This project shows how perspectives of learning from others is not just enjoyable, but is required.”