History is more than learning about the events of the past. It’s about using the lessons and wisdom of our past to make decisions for our future; decisions that can guide us toward a more equitable and ethical world. These podcast interviews with Associate Professor Nicole Archambeau about a medieval agricultural manuscript on beekeeping and Associate Professor Jessica Jackson on integrating local history into elementary classrooms help us bridge our past to our present, and our present to our future.
Translating the Past: How a medieval farming manual led to new wisdom on bees
Could a 700-year-old farming manual help us save today’s bees? For associate professor Nicole Archambeau, some of our most pressing modern sustainability challenges might have answers from agricultural practices in the Middle Ages.
Through her work translating 14th-century medical and agricultural texts—often from Latin— Archambeau reveals how past wisdom can help us understand how human health is deeply interconnected with the health of the environment, and how we can reframe our view of creatures like bees as partners, not tools, in confronting sustainability challenges.
Bringing Local Histories into Colorado Classrooms
Think back to your history lessons in school. What if instead of distant figures from distant times, the lesson was the story of someone living just down the street? Hyperlocal history is at the heart of associate professor Jessica Jackson’s History Matters project, which brings the diverse, often untold, histories of Northern Colorado residents into K–12 classrooms.
Through oral histories, community artifacts, and locally focused history lessons, Jackson’s project supports Colorado teachers in bringing research-based, hyperlocal, culturally responsive content into their classrooms and creates new historical connections for students.
Liberal Arts Impact
Colorado State University’s College of Liberal Arts is a vibrant community of artists, thinkers, storytellers, and scientists who examine the human experience. In these podcasts, our faculty share their areas of expertise and talk about why their work matters in our world today.
Faculty and staff recorded their podcasts with CSU's Center for Science Communication through the leadership of Associate Professor Jaime Jacobsen and her graduate students in the Department of Journalism and Media Communication.