MEET OUR PEOPLE
TALKING WITH TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND VOLUNTEERS
IN THIS ISSUE: FRED BOWERS
Fred Bowers is a naturalist with a PhD in Forest Soils. He spent 28 years working for the New Jersey Dept of Environmental Protection as a geologist and soil and water quality scientist. In the Spring Semester Fred will be teaching a course on The Power of Wind and Water in Human Culture.
When did you first learn about Belfast Senior College and become involved?
Soon after we moved here eight ago from New Jersey, my wife took Bob Rackmales class and said it was fun. Then I offered to teach a class about geology in the Midcoast, I spent a lot of time studying the local geology to prepare for teaching it. I learned that this area was covered with a lot more ice than New Jersey and that there are really old rocks around the boat house that contain about 450 million years of geologic history.
What inspired you to submit a course proposal? How did you determine what you wanted to teach?
When I worked at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection I had to teach a lot of things, so I’ve always been a teacher. As soon as I think about something, I think about what can I learn
What classes have you taught? If you’ve taught more than one, do you have a favorite and why.
I’ve taught quite a few classes—including a class on water, ice, pollution; another class on the discovery and exploration of the Andes Mountains, another on landscapes of Waldo County and watersheds of Waldo County. They were all fun.
What do you like about teaching at Belfast Senior College?
I like to teach because when I learn about a new topic, I get really excited about it and want to share my enthusiasm. For example, the upcoming class I’m teaching started with a trip my wife and I took to the Netherlands. I got to do a tour of the inside of a windmill, and I started to learn about the culture associated with windmills and how clever these people were to harness the wind and water which was a terror for them to turn these elements it into something that improved their lives.
What will your next course be? Do you have another course in mind you’d like to teach someday?
I’m not planning another class right now but I have a long list of ideas on the many themes I’d like to learn more about then share what I learn. They include: utopia, the Nile River, wisdom tales, existentialism, Latin America, satire, trickster stories, mindfulness, film and many more!
Other than teaching, what else do you do to keep your synapses firing?
I play my acoustical guitar a couple hours a day, I like the Beatles, Bob Dylan…
I cook and fix whatever needs fixing around the house. I look at the recipe, close the book then cook it. I don’t follow rules real well, which is why cooking is fun.
What are you most curious about?
I like science most of all, but culture also fascinates me. I like to pay attention to things, to observe and learn and problem solve. Right now, I’m helping TWIG (Tree Working Group) of Belfast in their efforts to identify all the trees in the city’s right of ways, to determine the condition and species of these tree, so I’m trying to solve the problem of how to find data points for the GIS to locate what trees are there.
