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Enchanting Environmental Education through Lord of the Rings
Friday November 13, 2026 8:00am - 8:45am EST
Coldstream 4 Room
In this interactive session, participants will explore undergraduate students’ reflections from "The Ecology of Middle-earth," an honors seminar linking ecocritical readings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, reflective writing, and outdoor service-learning. Presenters will share the course structure, key assignments, and student reflections illustrating how the class sought to help learners navigate eco-anxiety and environmental grief while fostering hope, agency, and environmental responsibility through engagement in fantasy literature and ecological restoration work. The session will highlight how students connected their time in “Faerie”—that is, Tolkien’s fantasy realms— to their experiences planting trees at a surface mine reclamation site in Eastern Kentucky and other service learning projects. Through reflective discussion and hands-on activities, participants will consider the possibilities and challenges involved in “enchanting” environmental education through fantasy storytelling traditions while exploring how these approaches might translate to their own educational settings and communities.
Speakers
avatar for Kenton Sena

Kenton Sena

Senior Lecturer, University of Kentucky
Dr. Kenton Sena is a Senior Lecturer in the Lewis Honors College, where he teaches HON 140 and Honors courses in ecology and the environment. He received recognition as one of the 2023 Great Teacher award winners from the University of Kentucky Alumni Association. He earned a B.A. in biology (with a minor in literature) from Asbury University, and an M.S. in forestry and a Ph.D. in integrated plant and soil sciences from the University of Kentucky. His research involves forest res... Read More →
avatar for Jill Abney

Jill Abney

Associate Director, Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, University of Kentucky
Dr. Jill Abney is the associate director of the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching where she directs CELT’s Teaching Innovation Institute and serves as the associate director of the UK-JHF Holocaust Education Initiative. She also teaches courses for UK’s department... Read More →
avatar for Madeline Aulisio Miller

Madeline Aulisio Miller

Senior Faculty/Instructional Consultant, Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, University of Kentucky
Dr. Madeline Aulisio Miller is a senior faculty/instructional consultant at CELT and previously earned her Doctor of Public Health in 2020 from UK’s College of Public Health with a research emphasis on health professions education. Prior to joining CELT, Dr. Aulisio Miller was an... Read More →
avatar for Laura Carter-Stone

Laura Carter-Stone

Senior Faculty/Instructional Consultant, Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, University of Kentucky
Dr. Laura Carter-Stone joined CELT after earning her PhD in Teaching, Learning, and Diversity from Vanderbilt University. As a Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities Environments Fellow during her time at Vanderbilt, she collaborated with interdisciplinary teams on a variety... Read More →
Friday November 13, 2026 8:00am - 8:45am EST
Coldstream 4 Room 1801 Newtown Pike, Lexington, KY 40511
  Education in Practice

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