Brenau signs contract with Yucatan-based ecology group

GAINESVILLE - Brenau University has signed a contract to allow students and faculty to pursue research projects and inter-cultural studiess in Mexico.

Brenau President Ed Schrader, Ph.D., recently signed a three-year, renewable cooperative agreement with George Bey, Ph.D., a representative of Kaxil Kiuic, a non-profit association that manages the 4,500-acre, south Yucatán-based Helen Moyers Biolcultural Reserve.

"I'm very excited about Brenau becoming a participating partner in the project," said Bey, Kaxil Kiuik Board member and associate professor of anthropology and archeology at Millsaps College.

The ecological reserve is a long-time passion of both Schrader and Bey, who founded the Kaxil Kiuik nonprofit group, along with archeologist Tomás Gallareta Negrón and former Millsaps President George Harmon. Rare plant and animal life abound in the sanctuary, which is located on private lands historically known as Rancho Kiuic that surround the prehispanic Maya ruins of Kiuic.

"Helen Moyers Biolcultural Reserve is a unique environment where students, teachers and researchers from around the world can share experiences and ideas," Bey said. Current research projects underway include pre-Columbian Maya culture; biology of the dry tropical forest; contemporary regional culture and history; and soil geology and chemistry.

Dr. Schrader, who took over as Brenau's ninth president Jan.1 following the retirement of John S. Burd, Ph.D., agrees with Bey's sentiments. "The way to learn about international cultures is not to learn about them in books, and look down on these people as though a different culture is somehow beneath our own," he said, "but to experience their life and traditions on an equal level, eye to eye