At the University of Texas at Dallas, you will find over a dozen thriving beehives with more than half a million bees.
Every semester, the university offers two courses dedicated to honeybees. The campus hosts so-called pollinator events, where students learn about and appreciate these insects and animals that help fertilize plants. And the university offers sales of honey that support its office of sustainability.
Just last year, the program’s 224 bottles of honey sold out in six hours.
But this expansive on-campus involvement with bees didn’t come from a university strategic plan or a grant. Rather, it stemmed from one student’s simple question to his instructor: “Want to see something cool?”
The instructor, Scott Rippel, answered yes without hesitation. And the “something cool,” it turns out, was a beehive the student had found on campus.
Ten years later, the follow-through to that student’s question resounds on campus. In harmony with its beginnings, the UT Dallas bee program is primarily led by students, with professors and staff serving mostly as advisers.
“They couldn’t do it without us, and we couldn’t do it without them. It’s truly integrated,” said Rippel, professor of instruction in biological sciences and one of the bee program’s two faculty representatives.
A decade in the making, UTD’s programs and courses about bees and pollinators offer students the opportunity to understand sustainability as something that reaches far past textbooks and PowerPoint presentations. Students don’t just get to read about the benefits of planting native plant species and making pollinator-friendly spaces, they see them all around campus.
After serving in the U.S. Army for four years, Rippel earned his master’s degree and doctorate at UTD in molecular and cell biology. He began teaching at the university in the fall of 1999. Years later, after his student asked the fateful question, Rippel asked his department head if he could teach an elective course on honeybees.
Soon after, in the fall of 2013, Rippel taught his first honey bee biology course. What started as a few pilot courses became an elective that drew students every semester.
A few years into teaching the course, Rippel received an unexpected email from Christina Thompson, a UTD associate professor of instruction in the Honors College. Thompson’s parents had decided to move to a farm, with a goal of self-sustainability, after living in the suburbs their entire lives. They asked Thompson if she knew anything about beekeeping.
The first person that came to mind, of course, was Rippel, who took Thompson out to one of the campus’ apiaries – a collection of beehives. She was hooked.
When Thompson shared her experiences with her lecture class of 150 organic chemistry students, not only did they know about the apiaries and the honeybee course, but they wanted in. They just didn’t have the opportunity to, since the class was limited to a specific number of students in a specific major.
From there, Thompson pitched the idea of a honeybee course for non-biology majors, and the university’s second bee course was born: Honeybees in Society. This shorter elective course focused less on the science of honeybees and more on their history and role in society, as well as “bee democracy,” the way they interact with one another.
But there is one thing that the courses have in common. Equipped with bee suits, students experience what it’s like to be surrounded by thousands of buzzing bees. This experience, Rippel and Thompson said, is transformative. Both for them and for their students.
As far back as World War I, beekeeping was used to help veterans with post-traumatic disorder, said Rippel.
“I tell [my students], ‘Whenever I’m feeling anxious outside, if I just go stick my head in a beehive, all my worries just disappear,’” said Rippel. “As they’re sitting there holding a frame of 2,000 to 3,000 bees, stinging insects, there’s just this awe going on.”
Similarly, Thompson has found that the most rewarding experience of teaching these courses is watching even the most anxious students transform their fear into fascination with the thousands of bees around them.
“We have students involved in the entire process, from installing the hives to managing the hive, and bottling the honey … it’s student engagement front and center,” said Gary Cocke, UTD’s director of sustainability and energy conservation.
Cocke is one of the co-chairs of the university’s Bee Campus USA program. Bee Campus USA is an organization that offers a framework for campuses to conserve native pollinators. The university has been officially affiliated with the organization for four years. It is one of only seven universities in Texas with the affiliation; there are 142 such campuses across the U.S..
Every year, UTD students serve as representatives for the program and lead the university’s renewal application process.
Eve Gersh, a UTD public policy major and one of the program’s student representatives, says the program has deeply shaped her experience as a student. “I mean, how many students can say that right after their calculus exam, they got to collect some honey from a real beehive?” said Gersh.
The program has sparked her academic career, helping set her apart for the prestigious Sumners Scholarship that she was recently awarded.
“This job has really helped me to become a leader and to meet other students, especially those who are interested in sustainability,” said Gersh. “So it’s been great not only for developing my own leadership, but also for just making friends and meeting other people on campus.”
For Gersh, the experience will reach far beyond her time at UTD: “This is something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. Bees have been a way to bridge the gap and to talk to anybody from anywhere.”
Jessica Rodriguez reports on science for The Dallas Morning News as part of a fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
