Students to travel abroad for research
Katie Scharber
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: News
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Fifteen students will travel to Zambia this summer to study comparative psychology through naturalistic field research of chimpanzees at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world.
The students will be accompanied by Dr. Molly Kretchmar, psychology department chair, and Dr. Mark Bodamer, a research associate at Chimfunshi who will be an associate visiting scholar at Gonzaga this fall.
Participants can sign up for two courses, comparative psychology with Bodamer and applied child psychology with Kretchmar, and will earn psychology credit.
Chimfunshi is the ideal place to study the behavior of chimps, according to Bodamer.
"The 110 chimps live in large social groups, the closest thing to living free in the wild," he said.
The chimps are housed on some of the largest enclosures in the world, two of which are 500 acres.
Bodamer, an associate professor of psychology at Pacific University, became aware of Chimfunshi when he met a member of the board of trustees at a Jane Goodall conference called ChimpanZoo. Bodamer was invited to visit Chimfunshi and has gone back for the last five years to conduct research and work with the local school and women's center.
"[There is] immense opportunity for humanitarian service," said Bodamer.
Bodamer contacted Kretchmar in January 2006 about coming to Gonzaga to do a presentation on his project in Zambia.
"We got excited about the program," said Kretchmar.
Several students were interested in going to Chimfunshi with Bodamer, so Kretchmar worked with Sima Thorpe, director of CCASL, and Mark Alfino, professor of philosophy, to enable eight students to visit last summer and earn academic credit through Pacific University.
"I heard about it in my adolescent psychology class and I went to the very last informational meeting," said junior Chelsey Sterling. "It just sounded amazing."
"[Sterling] went last year as a student on the program and she was really a superstar student," said Kretchmar.
The students will be accompanied by Dr. Molly Kretchmar, psychology department chair, and Dr. Mark Bodamer, a research associate at Chimfunshi who will be an associate visiting scholar at Gonzaga this fall.
Participants can sign up for two courses, comparative psychology with Bodamer and applied child psychology with Kretchmar, and will earn psychology credit.
Chimfunshi is the ideal place to study the behavior of chimps, according to Bodamer.
"The 110 chimps live in large social groups, the closest thing to living free in the wild," he said.
The chimps are housed on some of the largest enclosures in the world, two of which are 500 acres.
Bodamer, an associate professor of psychology at Pacific University, became aware of Chimfunshi when he met a member of the board of trustees at a Jane Goodall conference called ChimpanZoo. Bodamer was invited to visit Chimfunshi and has gone back for the last five years to conduct research and work with the local school and women's center.
"[There is] immense opportunity for humanitarian service," said Bodamer.
Bodamer contacted Kretchmar in January 2006 about coming to Gonzaga to do a presentation on his project in Zambia.
"We got excited about the program," said Kretchmar.
Several students were interested in going to Chimfunshi with Bodamer, so Kretchmar worked with Sima Thorpe, director of CCASL, and Mark Alfino, professor of philosophy, to enable eight students to visit last summer and earn academic credit through Pacific University.
"I heard about it in my adolescent psychology class and I went to the very last informational meeting," said junior Chelsey Sterling. "It just sounded amazing."
"[Sterling] went last year as a student on the program and she was really a superstar student," said Kretchmar.