Her Interest in Ecology Opens Up a Whole New World

Unlike many of her peers, Keren Ness of Los Angeles won’t be heading off to college this fall. Instead, she will be studying the world’s ecology problems first hand.

Ness is one of 30 students in the International Honors Program, a nine-month tour that will focus on global ecology and the integration of nature and society. She’ll visit the United Kingdom, India, Thailand, Malaysia, United States, New Zealand and Colombia. The students will meet with prominent environmentalists, participate in field work and learn about different cultures.

“The curriculum integrates science, sociological and environmental,” she said.

The recent high school graduate said she has always had an interest in the environment. At the Center for Enriched Studies, a Westside magnet high school, Ness helped establish a recycling program with fellow students.

Ness said she is looking forward to taking part in the program.

“This experience will allow me to travel throughout the world and see how cultures deal with environmental problems,” she said. “It’s an opportunity that I can’t pass up.”

The program, offered in cooperation with Bard College in New York, has college credit. Ness hopes to get a jump start on her studies and future career. When she returns, Ness plans to attend UC Santa Cruz and major in environmental studies.

Susan Lindau of Santa Monica has been selected as chairwoman of the Kitchen Design Tour to be sponsored by the Jewish Family Service on Sept. 22.

The tour will showcase eight recently remodeled kitchens in the Westside. Proceeds will benefit Jewish Family Service of Santa Monica, which provides professional mental health counseling.

Westwood resident Jane Small has been elected chairperson of the Los Angeles County Commission on Disabilities.

Small, who was appointed to the Commission on Disabilities in 1987 by Supervisor Ed Edelman, has more than 30 years of professional and community experience in the private and public sectors. She is also president of the West Los Angeles chapter of the California Assn. of Persons with Handicaps and a member of the UCLA Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Disabilities.

Southwestern University School of Law has appointed Karen Smith of Brentwood director of the school’s Conceptual Approach to Legal Education program.

Smith, a law professor at the school since 1982, has taught in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure and pretrial lawyering skills. Her duties as director of the program will include conceptual learning and simulation training.

The school also announced that Catherine Watson, of Hollywood, has joined the full-time faculty as an instructor of legal writing. She is a former member of the law school’s adjunct faculty.

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