Faculty Lecture

by Genevieve (Genny) Anderson, Biological Sciences Department, Santa Barbara City College

Tales from Our Tidepools, Treasures Beneath the Sea

On March 13, 2002 I gave the annual faculty lecture. It was absolutely the most wonderful day of my professional career. The Garvin Theatre was packed (400 seats) and I was surrounded by my family, friends, and colleagues as well as a number of SBCC students and community members. This site contains all of the images I used during my presentation. If you just want the "Tidepools" lesson go right to "The Tales from Our Tidepools". If you would like to read the acknowledgements and introductory remarks (as to how I picked my topic, etc.) begin with the "Acknowledgements."

• Acknowledgements

• Introduction

• The Tales from Our Tidepools

• The Splash Zone
(periwinkle snails, fingernail limpets, buckshot barnacles)

• The High Tide Zone
(balanus barnacles, gooseneck barnacles, mussels)

• The Mid Tide Zone
(aggregating anemons, few sea stars)

• The Low Tide Zone
(sea stars, sunburst anemones, surf grass, plus)

• The Treasures Beneath the Sea

• The Special Ending

• Conclusion

I planned and organized touch tanks of live marine animals to be presented the half hour before and the half hour after my lecture. These touch tanks, set up outside the Garvin Theatre, were staffed by 11 of my past marine biology students (dating back to the 1970s). Elise Stephens, SBCC Senior Lab Tech, who is in charge of marine biology took the lead in organizing the set up of the touch tanks. Without Elise and the "touch tank interpreter" past students this could not have happened. I also had six of my past students act as ushers in the theater under the guidance of Trela Cowan, SBCC Teacher's Aid in Biological Sciences.

Genny and some of the touch tank interpreters from her lecture day. Photo taken by larry Jon Friesen.