SCC to Host State Biology Instructors, Sponsor Aldo Leopold Show at Capitol Theater

09/14/2017

Southeastern Community College will host the 2017 Iowa Association of Community College Biology Teachers Conference September 22-23. As part of the conference, SCC is sponsoring a one-man show about Aldo Leopold on September 22 at the Burlington Capitol Theater.

SCC Biology Instructor Cathy Ziglar says the conference brings in 30 attendees from across the state. This year’s conference will feature local conservation biologist, Jeremy Yost, discussing endangered bats at Big Hollow, a workshop on diversity in STEM classrooms, and field trips to Big Hollow, GRMC (the greenest hospital in the country), and a tour of Mississippi River ecology with Dr. Jim Lamer.

The highlight of the conference is the show, Aldo Leopold: A Standard of Change. Written and performed by Jim Pfitzer, the show explores the intersection of human progress and wildness, and how one man re-thought his attitudes toward both.

Ziglar says planners wanted to highlight the area’s ties to biology and ecology. “With Burlington being the home town of the famed naturalist Aldo Leopold, we knew his work would resonate not just with this audience but members of the community, too.”

Aldo Leopold’s famous work, A Sand County Almanac, is considered one of the most significant environmental books of the 20th century.

Pfitzer is a storyteller and writer based on Lookout Mountain in Georgia where he enjoys birdwatching, hiking, fly fishing, and foraging. He is best known for his nature-based personal tales ranging from too-close-for-comfort black bear encounters, to the significance of sweet tea in southern society--a body of work that has been called “avant-garde and old fashioned at the same time.”

The show will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Burlington Capitol Theater and is open to the public. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and are available in advance at the SCC Welcome Center in West Burlington or at the door.

For more news or to learn about Southeastern Community College, visit: https://www.scciowa.edu/rss/news/index.html