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Janice
Coffey Swab: A Passionate Professor of Plants
By Kristi Eaves-McLennan,
Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications
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 Within
a few minutes of meeting Dr. Janice Swab, Meredith professor
of biology, it quickly becomes evident that she has a
passion for plants. Her research interests in botany have
taken her to each of the seven continents to study various
plant forms — and her office, courses and conversations
are all filled with the knowledge she’s gained from
these explorations.
An educator for more than 30 years, Swab is equally as
passionate about teaching. While at Meredith, Swab has
taught courses in plant biology, symbiology, environmental
science, and natural history, and led field studies in
Belize to examine watershed ecology.
Engaging students in the material, she believes, is one
of the most important roles for an instructor.
“The way to teach is to have conversations with the
students, so they feel like they have something to offer,”
she says.
This teaching philosophy is evident in Environments of
Africa, a new course Swab is teaching during the spring
2003 semester.
“I look at the whole student,” Swab says. “I
use the Environments of Africa, not only to teach my students
about Africa, but also to teach them how to be scholars.”
Approximately 25 students, who represent a broad range
of majors, are enrolled in this science course. While
the course focuses on African ecosystems, Swab incorporates
writing, research and a number of “lessons for free”
about other parts of the world.
To create the course, Swab drew upon her five semesters
of experience living and teaching in Egypt, Sudan, and
Zambia as a Fulbright Scholar.
“I’m more proud of having been a Fulbright scholar
than anything I’ve ever done professionally,”
Swab says.
The U.S. Fulbright Scholar program, sponsored by the U.S.
government through the Commission for the International
Exchange of Scholars, is a highly competitive program
that sends scholars and professionals to more than 140
countries each year.
Swab plans to return to Africa this summer. She will visit
universities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in hopes of
making the contacts necessary to establish future partnerships
with Meredith.
A Meredith College teaching award recipient, Swab holds
a Bachelor of Science in science education from Appalachian
State University. She earned a Master of Science and a
Ph.D. in biology from the University of South Carolina.
In addition to her two Fulbright awards, Swab has won
a number of fellowships and grants, including a Templeton
Foundation grant and four National Science Foundation
fellowships. She has also participated in exchanges, teaching,
and research programs in the former USSR, Australia, China,
and Bolivia.
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MEREDITH COLLEGE
3800 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-5298
Tel: 919.760.8600 Fax: 919.760.2828
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