In Common Spring/Summer 2005

InIn SPRING/ SUMMER CommonCommon2005 A Newsletter for Alumni & Friends of the gaylord nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW–Madison Nelson Institute Grad Honored as ‘Distinguished Alum’ Florence Chenoweth, who six years, she worked on a earned a doctorate from the UW–Madison agricultural Nelson Institute’s Land policy project in Zambia, Resources Program in 1986, followed by a stint as an received a UW–Madison advisor to the president of Distinguished Alumni Award Zambia, who was seeking in May. ways to liberalize agricul- Chenoweth is the executive tural markets. director of the liaison office of In 1995, Chenoweth the United Nations Food and joined the FAO as its repre- Agriculture Organization (FAO), sentative in Gambia in the world’s leading agency in the West Africa. She spear- fight against hunger. She was headed efforts to revitalize one of six 2005 award recipients assistance programs there, chosen for having “demonstrat- and conducted a review of ed a commitment to improving the country’s agricultural the lives of families around the and natural resources that globe,” according to the has since helped guide Wisconsin Alumni Association. Gambia’s development. Chenoweth was born in She then opened the Liberia in 1945. At the age of FAO’s first office in South 22, she became the first woman Africa following the end of Florence Chenoweth at a reception for the Distinguished Alumni to enroll in the College of Awards. (Photo by Brent Nicastro) apartheid. In 2000, she Agriculture at the University of coordinated relief efforts Liberia in Monrovia. She then following floods that dis- came to UW–Madison and earned a master’s degree in agri- rupted the lives of 2.5 million people. cultural economics in 1970. The following year, Chenoweth was named FAO liaison After returning to Liberia, Chenoweth worked in gov- with the United Nations in New York, serving as the link ernment agricultural institutions and made history once between the relief agency and the U.N. General Assembly. again by becoming the African country’s first female minister Chenoweth considers it her mission to help relieve the of agriculture in 1977. She took action to increase the pro- suffering caused by hunger. duction of rice, Liberia’s staple crop, through the introduc- “It is immoral that 842 million people go to bed hungry tion of higher-yield varieties and acreage expansion pro- in a world that produces enough food to feed every single grams. person on Earth. And 170 million of those hungry people But a coup d’etat in 1980, which took the life of the are children,” she says. president and other government officials, forced Chenoweth For more information on Chenoweth’s award, and to to flee with little more than her children. They arrived in view a video biography prepared for the award ceremony, Sierra Leone on foot. visit the Wisconsin Alumni Association Web site, Chenoweth returned to Madison to pursue a Ph.D. in www.uwalumni.com/daa/. land resources, which she completed in 1986. For the next New Director a Master at Merging Worlds By Paroma Basu, University influence as a dynamic network of Communications ideas and expertise. “I want to integrate and syn- For most of her working life, Frances ergize interactions between differ- Westley has thrived on blurring ent people,” she says. “I want to boundaries, invariably seeing gray work like any good broker, con- where others notice only black or necting resources to possibilities.” white. Her gift for moving seamlessly A Start in the Arts between professional worlds — and The winding path of possibilities stitching together talent from dis- that led Westley here from parate fields — will be critical as Montreal also is a lesson in how Westley settles in as the new director one person can mold a career, of the Nelson Institute. seizing unexpected opportunities “The reason she is a terrific choice and amassing expertise, while is because of her interdisciplinarity,” dodging professional categories says long-time collaborator Steven all along. Carpenter, a UW–Madison ecologist Westley started out as a fine who has co-authored several papers arts student at Vermont’s with Westley. Middlebury College. But return- In this regard, Westley is on fertile ing in the early 1970s to home- Frances Westley ground at the Nelson Institute, which town Montreal, she sensed that has earned acclaim for crafting multi- art was not her only calling. After into more practical application.” disciplinary solutions to environmental briefly teaching drama and even con- Her restlessness most likely dilemmas. sidering medical school, Westley final- prompted Westley in 1982 to apply for “It’s a fascinating job,” says ly decided to follow in her sociologist and win a government fellowship that Westley of her new position. “It’s a parents’ footsteps, enrolling at helped social science professionals re- perfect fit between the things I care Montreal’s McGill University to study orient into the management field. about, the skills I have and an oppor- sociology. Soon, Westley was working at McGill’s tunity that arose at the right moment.” After completing a master’s thesis management school. On the job since January, the new on Charlie Chaplin films, Westley Within two months, Westley director aims to boost the institute’s went on to write a doctoral disserta- became an assistant professor. But tion about new religious movements. adjusting to the career shift proved Later, she took a job teaching pop cul- extremely challenging. In Common ture theory at the University of “I wasn’t trained in the whole jar- In Common is published twice a year Western Ontario, in a small town gon of management; I didn’t even by the Gaylord Nelson Institute for called London. know what a bottom line was,” says Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The story might have ended there, Westley of her steep learning curve. Articles, story ideas, photos and let- but Westley’s newfound professional “Getting up to speed was the equiva- ters to the editor are always welcome. stability was destabilizing her personal lent of doing another Ph.D.” life. Her husband was a tenured reli- She also gave birth to a third Editor: Steve Pomplun Institute for Environmental Studies gion professor in Montreal. The cou- daughter during this challenging time. 15 Science Hall, 550 N. Park St. ple lived apart for four years, having But six years in, Westley began asking Madison, WI 53706–1491 two daughters amidst the distance. herself some hard questions. (608) 263–3063; Hoping to unite the family, “Even as I learned that many busi- [email protected] Westley started looking for work in nesses use brilliant methodologies, I www.ies.wisc.edu Montreal. Opportunities were scarce, was chilled by what I was encountering however, even as she began to feel at the big corporations I was research- Funding for the publication of In Common ambivalent about her field. “I was feel- ing,” she says. “I asked myself, ’Do I is provided through the generosity of our ing restless with sociology,” she recalls. really want to spend my life working in alumni and friends. “I felt the need to move from theory this environment?’” 2 in common Points of Commonality indispensable, as she traveled around such abilities — what she calls her Almost in response to her thoughts, the world helping scientists collaborate “skills of the margins” — to negotiate Westley was invited in 1990 to speak at effectively with diverse interest groups, her new working environment. She’s a conference that explored how man- ranging from international logging been talking to faculty and staff about agement professionals could apply companies to indigenous villagers. teaching and outreach programs at the their knowledge to pressing global “Frances opened our eyes to how Nelson Institute to determine exactly problems such as hunger and disease. people take in conservation informa- what institute members want for the “This was exactly what I was look- tion and how to convey hard-core sci- future. ing for; it was a watershed moment,” ence to the people who will be most Over the longer term, Westley she recalls. impacted by it,” says Philip Miller, hopes to lure new young faculty mem- Always passionate about nature, CBSG’s senior program officer. “She bers as one step in an effort to bolster Westley decided to use her manage- brought the human element into the the institute’s resources. ment expertise to help problems in science of conservation biology.” After a lifetime in bustling, cosmo- conservation and the environment. Carpenter, who met Westley at the politan Montreal, Madison is certainly Still at McGill, Westley became Resilience Alliance, agrees. a new world. But, says Westley, “when involved with several organizations, “She would be the key communica- an opportunity comes up, you take it including the ecology group Resilience tor who can translate ideas among sev- even if you don’t know where it’ll lead. Alliance, as well as the Captive eral technical jargons and help people When so many factors align, it’s almost Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), see points of commonality or points of like a call.” which works to save endangered difference,” he says. species. Her services quickly became Westley will most likely depend on Q & A: Frances Westley What are your priorities during your find other colleagues there who are of them are doing what I would con- first year? the best in the world. And if you are a sider to be professional degrees. I’d I’d like to get a dialogue going prospective student you will want to like to get our alumni much more about what we as an institute are try- come here in order to get a unique involved with connecting them into ing to do, what it means to realize our interdisciplinary education, unlike the corporate world or the govern- mission of leadership in interdiscipli- that available anywhere else, which ment world or the NGO world, nary teaching, research and outreach, will equip you to be a conservation preparing them for what that world how well we’re doing and what we catalyst or a desirable colleague in any will be like and helping them find could do better.

Load more