Folt to Lecture on ‘Water in Our World’

Posted on April 22, 2015

Chancellor Carol L. Folt, long recognized internationally as an environmental scientist, will deliver a lecture Thursday on “Water in Our World: Past Is Present, Future Is Fragile, But We Can Make a Difference.”

The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Nelson Mandela Auditorium in the FedEx Global Education Center.

Folt’s research has focused on the effects of mercury and arsenic on human and ecosystem health, salmonid fisheries management and restoration, and global climate change. Her presentation will be the culminating event for Carolina’s first campuswide theme, “Water in Our World, ” which was brought forward by the Global Research Institute and embraced as a campus theme from 2012 to 2015.

“To arrive at Chapel Hill in the midst of the Water in Our World theme, a subject so close to my heart professionally and personally, made me feel even more certain that Carolina was the place for me,” Folt said. “I continue to be inspired by the way Carolina’s students, faculty and staff are taking on one of our biggest global challenges in a truly collaborative way.”

Water has long been a subject of significance for Folt. Before being installed as Carolina’s 11th chancellor and first female leader in October 2013, she earned a bachelor’s degree in aquatic biology, a master’s degree in biology and a doctorate in ecology from the University of California at Davis and completed postdoctoral work at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University. She came to Carolina from Dartmouth College, where she was a professor of biological sciences, faculty member and administrator for 30 years. She also is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The chancellor’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Global Research Institute, UNC Global, The Water Institute at UNC, the Water in Our World steering committee and the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.

Two professors will give introductory remarks: Jamie Bartram, Don and Jennifer Holzworth Distinguished Professor of environmental sciences and engineering and director of The Water Institute at UNC in the Gillings School of Global Public Health; and Peter Coclanis, Albert Ray Newsome Distinguished Professor of history and director of the Global Research Institute. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a public reception.

The FedEx Global Education Center is at 301 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill. Parking will be available in the garage below the building beginning at 5 p.m.

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