Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman astronaut, will join the faculty of the Environmental Sciences department this month.
Jemison will also head the new Jemison Institute at Dartmouth College for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries.
Environmental Studies Department Chair Ross Virginia, confirmed Jemison's appointment yesterday, but said the College is still finalizing Jemison's contract.
The new institute will allow Jemison to continue her research in the relationship between advanced technology, health and environment to find solutions for problems facing lesser developed countries, according to the Environmental Studies newsletter.
"The objective of the institute is to evaluate, identify and promote the development of technology for developing countries," Virginia said.
Jemison, reached at her office in Houston yesterday, declined to comment on her appointment or the Jemison Institute.
Jemison's appointment "adds an exciting interdisciplinary dimension to our curriculum and new topics for undergraduate research," Virginia wrote in the newsletter.
Jemison and Professor Carol Goldburg are scheduled to co-teach Environmental Studies 82, "Natural Resources, Development and the Environment," in the summer of 1995.
Jemison spent Winter term of 1993 at Dartmouth as a Montgomery Fellow.
While at the College, Jemison taught College Course 4, "Space Age Technology in Developing Countries."
The Jemison Institute is a spin-off from that course, Virginia said.
In Fall term of 1994, Jemison was a guest lecturer for Environmental Sciences 2, "Earth as an Ecosystem."
Jemison flew on the NASA Spacelab-J, the first cooperative mission between the United States and Japan.
She also worked as a Peace Corps medical officer in West Africa for two years, managing rural health care.
Jemison has a degree in engineering from Stanford University and a medical degree from Cornell University.
In a January 1993 interview with The Dartmouth, Jemison said, "I accepted the [Montgomery Fellowship] as an opportunity to go to a new environment and do some reality testing. I also get to work on things that I'm interested in, like development and technology."
