With colleagues Christopher Smart and Stuart Belli, Pinar Batur created the especially influential and innovative ‘course intersection method’ as a way to build bridges between science, social science and humanities courses.  Their work was chosen as a SENCER national model.  Their ‘course intersection’ allowed students from courses in different fields to blend their expertise and dedicate their labors to an original research project involving determining lead levels and proposing appropriate remediation activities.  Chris, Pinar and Stuart are turning their attention to the creation of a new project that will concentrate on mercury as a global pollutant.  Knowing what truly exceptional collaborators that they are, it came as no surprise to the Fellowship Board that they made a joint and collective application for our consideration.”

As Campus Leadership Fellows, “the Vassar team” plans to promote wider adoption of SENCER principles, though workshops and support of regional activities.  They also plan to fully develop and launch the mercury project focusing on mercury contamination in Hudson River fish and local fish consumption as a topic of democratic debate and decision-making.

Pinar was elected to the inaugural class of Leadership Fellows in July 2008.