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Professor exceeds beyond geology |
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Thursday, 27 September 2007 |
 Geology professor Laura Mallard (r) discusses the stream discharge of Kraut Creek with students during a lab field trip Wednesday. Derek DeSha
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by BOB KALBAUGH
Intern Online Reporter
Is it possible to be a full-time college professor, run an extensive and profitable business, have your own farm, organize community activities and maintain a stress-free lifestyle through it all?
If your name is Laura Mallard, the answer is yes.
Mallard, 34, an Appalachian State University geology instructor, keeps her poise despite the plethora of her day-to-day activities.
“You have to be able to keep your sense of humor,” she said. “Along with time management, my sense of humor always helps me get through the day.”
To go along with the trials and tribulations of being a college
professor, Mallard and her husband, Grant Seldomridge, started “River
and Earth Adventures,” a company with a focus on outdoor activities and
environmental education.
“We do whitewater rafting, caving, hiking, kayaking and canoeing,” she
said. “We also have a whitewater rafting paddling school, which
employs many students through the university.”
Her business is one way she develops relationships with her students.
“The students relate to me and I can relate to them,” she said. “I
have at least 100 students every semester and I try to learn at least
one thing about each of them so that I can connect with them.”
Senior geology major Stephanie Say said Mallard’s passion and personality are the main reasons she is so revered across campus.
“She is so passionate about what she teaches and what she conveys in
the classroom,” Say said. “She has such a fun personality, and it makes
students feel happy and relaxed in an otherwise stressful environment.”
Mallard also has an organic farm.
“I raise hundreds of pounds of tomatoes and eggs and actually got 40
pints of honey from my bees this season,” she said. “I also have five
different kinds of chickens and 16 all together.”
Her love for animals even motivated her to recently adopt a new puppy she found on a hiking venture.
“I was on a hike in Pisgah National Forest, and I found a litter of
four-week old puppies,” she said. “Something told me I had to adopt one
of them (she already had two dogs at home). I named him Pisgah.”
Mallard’s love for the environment pushes her to keep Watauga County
environmentally conscious. She recently organized “The Big Sweep,” an
event based on cleaning up the Watauga River.
Despite all her activities, she said she never manages to spread herself too thin.
“I am really good at compartmentalizing my time,” she said. “If I have
to focus my time in one aspect, it has always been easy for me to do.”
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