Department News

Dan Hornbach Environmental Studies Lab

September 2024 – On September 24, 2024, the college dedicated the Dan Hornbach Environmental Studies Lab in Olin-Rice.  This is a space where students will practice and build on the commitment to experiential learning that Prof. Hornbach exemplified throughout his 40 years at Macalester, first with the Biology Department and later in the Environmental Studies Department.

Prof. Roopali Phadke Receives Department of Energy Award

April 2024 – Macalester College has been awarded a $1.77 million grant from the Department of Energy through its Battery Recycling, Reprocessing, and Battery Collection Funding Opportunity. Macalester has the distinction of being the only higher education institution among the seventeen awardees of the $125 million funding program. The project, called CollectED, will highlight the urgent need to gather critical metals, underscore the importance of battery education, and emphasize that it will take a social collective to make this happen. Led by Prof. Roopali Phadke, CollectED has the potential to position the state of Minnesota as a national leader in designing and implementing educational and outreach programs around battery storage and recycling. In this Q&A, Professor Phadke shares more details about the exciting new project.

Prof. Christie Manning Wins Two Awards

September 2023 – Prof. Christie Manning was a Trustee Award winner.  The Trustee Awards were created by Trustee Steve Euller ‘71 in 2013. The fund is used to provide awards of $5,000 to faculty members (typically 5 per year) who demonstrate exemplary achievement in teaching, scholarship, and/or service to the Macalester or professional community. Trustee Awards are open to faculty who are tenured, tenure-track, or in the NTT series.

Also in May 2023, Christie was honored with the Disability Services Champions Award.  This award recognizes the faculty, staff and students who are “champions” of disability awareness and advocacy at Macalester.  These individuals exemplify inclusive practices, promote disability awareness and diversity in a wide variety of ways, and are strong advocates for physical and programmatic access at Mac.