Dr. Pamela Kittelson of the Biology Department and Environmental Studies program at Gustavus talks about growing up in Colorado, her path to college and eventually an unanticipated PhD in plant biology, coming to Gustavus, teaching Gustavus students in the field and abroad in India and Bangladesh, the ingredients of teaching excellence, directing the campus Fellowships Office, her ongoing research on “diversity and change in plant populations,” the adverse impact of human beings on “the biological world” and how that affects her personally as a human being and someone who studies it, and what makes liberal arts colleges special.