{"id":6281,"date":"2023-08-31T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholesumky.org\/?p=6281"},"modified":"2023-05-30T12:06:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T16:06:04","slug":"great-teachers-2023-kenton-sena-helps-lewis-honors-students-cultivate-a-curiosity-for-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholesumky.org\/?p=6281","title":{"rendered":"Great Teachers 2023: Kenton Sena helps Lewis Honors students cultivate a curiosity for learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kenton Sena, Ph.D., a lecturer in the University of Kentucky Lewis Honors College<\/a>, is one of this year\u2019s Great Teacher Award recipients. He joined the UK faculty in 2018 and teaches courses on forest restoration ecology, environmental science and literature of the environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am invested in my community and invested in relationships, and I think that’s a strength in the classroom, because students feel like I am invested in them,\u201d Sena said. \u201cI try to be as active as I can in doing meaningful work in the community and on campus, and I am able to invite students to participate in that with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sena\u2019s service-learning program engages students in environmentally-relevant projects in Lexington and across the Commonwealth. As part of his course, \u201cThe Ecology of Middle-earth,\u201d Sena and his students traveled to Daniel Boone National Forest to help restore native forests on a surface mined site. Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re able to go out in the woods and cut some honeysuckle and then plant some trees. And I think that active participation is something that students really appreciate,\u201d Sena said. \u201cI really want to help students cultivate a curiosity for learning and knowing outside of whatever their field of focus is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sena earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology with a minor in literature from Asbury University, and his master\u2019s degree and Ph.D. from UK. He has published papers in journals such as Forests, Ecological Restoration, Science of the Total Environment, and Forest Ecology and Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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