Honors Faculty Spotlight: Camille Holmgren

This interview was originally published in the October 2024 edition of the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program newsletter. Camille A. Holmgren is a professor in the Geosciences Department at Buffalo State University.

Tell us about yourself.

I earned bachelor of arts degrees in both environmental studies and geology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and my master of science and Ph.D. in geosciences—with a Ph.D. minor in global change—from the University of Arizona in Tucson. I then spent two years on the faculty at California State University, Long Beach, before coming to Buffalo State in 2007. I spent five years serving as department chair of Geography and Planning, but following the creation of the new department of Geosciences, I was happy to step down and return my focus to teaching.  

I really enjoy being outside, so outside of work I enjoy hiking, running, scuba diving, and bird watching. I also love traveling to see different landscapes and ecosystems. I like to weave examples from these interests into my courses, and hope they inspire students to think about the natural world around us.

What are your research interests?

As an undergrad, I discovered a love for fossils and what they can tell us about the history of life on our planet. My research involves using ancient packrat middens, which are the nest or den of the rodents, that are constructed of leaves, seeds, twigs, flowers, and fruit from the surrounding vegetation, as well as bones, insects, and pollen. These rodents live in arid environments where their middens can be preserved for more than 50,000 years in caves and crevices in rocks. By collecting ancient middens, which can be radiocarbon dated, I can identify the plants that were living at various time from the last ice age until today. My research has taken me to Peru, Chile, Baja California Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, and Colorado. 

How long have you been teaching Honors? What courses?

My first Honors course was in 2017, and I’ve had the opportunity to teach Honors courses off and on since then. I’ve taught HON 102: World Natural Environments, HON 102: Introduction to Environmental Sustainability, and this fall I am offering HON 102: Oceanography for the first time. I began teaching oceanography last fall and am excited to have an Honors section of this course this year. Over the summer, I worked to develop some new assignments and activities for the course, which I look forward to trying out with the Honors students.

Teaching Honors students is a treat because they tend to be highly motivated. They also tend to have wide-ranging interests, which helps them connect information from other courses or experiences to class topics and can lead to some great insights and discussions. 

What would be your dream Honors course to teach if given infinite funding?

I think getting out to explore the world and see new places is such a great way to learn and understand the diversity of what the world has to offer. So, my dream Honors course would be an around-the-world journey in which students could see rainforests, deserts, savannas, mountains, ice caps, and ocean environments up close. But even without that, we can use photos, videos, the planetarium, and lab materials and equipment [rocks, fossils, microscopes, thermometers, computer models, etc.] to better understand our world.  

What is your advice to students?

Get involved and try new things. There’s so much going on all the time at Buffalo State. Take some time to join a club or attend events—there are lots of performances, talks, and activities happening every week. These are a great way to make connections with other students, gain additional experience within your discipline, or explore something completely unfamiliar to you. 

Also, don’t be afraid to try new things because you think you might not be good at it or because you don’t know much at first. In life, we’re all students and start at the beginning. It’s how we grow and learn that matter.  

Finally, if you get the opportunity to travel—go! You will learn a lot about the world and yourself.