Stephen Welter

Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management

Stephen C. Welter, currently the Chair of Division of Insect Biology, along with course graduate student instructors has developed a version of the TV program "Survivor" as a teaching tool in sections of ESPM 10, Environmental Issues, the required course for majors. Students pick a species out of a hat and are divided into two tribes, Aqua and Terra. Through a series of challenges, the tribes vote species off the biosphere. The ability to engage students at all levels and abilities is a hallmark of his teaching: "I am now a declared Environmental Sciences major,"says one, "because of Professor Welter's ability to communicate to his students the importance of creating effective public policy that incorporates both environmental concerns as well as human welfare." Welter, a specialist in applied insect biology, received his B.S. from UC Davis and his Ph.D. from UC Riverside.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

I feel that I am always successful in educating my students, but sometimes I also teach them. By "educating students," I mean transferring ideas, facts, and even ways of thinking about science.  By "teaching students", I mean helping them discover or create something in themselves that was hidden or non-existent before: a newfound intellectual love, a realization of relationships between different pieces of their lives, a questioning of long-held personal dogmas, or a need to engage with life.

Trained as an entomologist and long an observer of what E.O. Wilson called "the little things that run the world," I have two objectives for Insect Ecology (ESPM 113). The first is to educate students about the amazing roles that insects play in shaping our lives, our world, and their ecosystems.  The second objective is to introduce students to the "magic" of insects, to the awe that can only be felt as you peer into their worlds, and to the wonderment that follows from an understanding of the intricacies and precision of their relationships. For a period of time I held contempt for natural history stories from insect ecology and they were not part of my course. Fortunately, I remembered my own love for the stories that first inspired me to study insects after telling them to my own children.

However, with ESPM 10 ("Environmental Issues"), I have a completely different set of objectives. The class is not bounded by the walls of biological or physical sciences, but seeks the integration of science with all other aspects of our lives including ethics, economics, sociology, law, statistics, and decision-making.

Because there are so many trade-offs that are heartbreaking and difficult in environmental issues, much of the course attempts to blend the factual platforms of each issue with a strong ethical base from which students must examine their own assumptions and make their own decisions.  Addressing environmental issues requires more than just emoting, it also requires a firm grasp of the scientific basis for almost all issues as well as the social and economic drivers that generate the issues.

While trade-offs are uniquely pertinent to environmental issues, they apply to life in general. This semester I told my students that I believe that this class is a metaphor for life: that people have to identify what is important in their lives and belief systems, to understand the causes and their relationships with various issues, and to understand that they are making decisions about those issues every day.

I like to believe that I can teach and educate, but if I had to choose one, I would rather be a teacher than an educator.