Rebecca Vidra
Photo by: Lili Moodra

Meet Rebecca Vidra, a Lecturer in Environmental Sciences and Policy, and a member of the DEL faculty since 2010.  You might find Rebecca teaching DEL-MEM restoration ecology field courses in Hawaii or advising on communications plans, which is the capstone project in the Exec Ed program’s Certificate in Environmental Communications.  She also advises on DEL-MEM Masters Projects and summer research.  Her primary research interest in environmental ethics leads her to consider the many ethical challenges of ecological restoration.

Like many faculty at the Nicholas School, Rebecca wears many hats including Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy and faculty advisor of the literary publication Eno.  The flexibility of DEL’s online courses and unconventional class meeting times assists her in taking on such a considerable load in addition to raising a family and pursuing outside interests such as yoga, sailing, and visiting restoration projects near the beach.

We caught up with Rebecca after the semester and asked her to share some thoughts on the upcoming “Environmental Communications Planning” course, environmental ethics, and life in general.

Some of your previous work with DEL includes asking students to consider their moral obligation to the planet.  What does that mean?

There are many good reasons to protect the environment. Economic motivations probably get the most attention. However, we also have a moral obligation to do the right thing, to protect the planet so that others, both current and future generations, have access to resources, clean air and water, and the wonder of natural environments. Our moral obligations may differ (some may be motivated for religious reasons, others for aesthetics) but the outcome should, and hopefully will be, the same.

What are some of the skills you hope your Environmental Communications Planning will take home with them this fall?

Environmental Communications Planning is about the big picture/strategy of an organization’s initiative. In this class, students work on individual plans that are relevant and timely in their own work but also collaborate on each other’s. Skills such as concise writing, effective messaging, connecting with stakeholders, and evaluating the communication strategy are all part of this course.

What is one thing your DEL students should know about you as an instructor?   

While I enjoy leading my courses, I view my role primarily as facilitator of community. My students are asked to join a community of learners so that we can work together to make even more out of our time together.

Join Rebecca this fall for the Exec Ed course “Environmental Communications Planning” or learn more about taking her classes as a DEL-MEM student at http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/del.