I am very fortunate and thankful to be working in both my vocation as a geographer and my advocation in environmental studies. Being a member of the faculty at The Evergreen State College is a fortunate place for me. I am able to continue my passionate study of human relationship with Earth and contribute to student development and accomplishment in environmental studies. I am committed to the interdisciplinary, experiential education the college promotes. While I enjoy lecturing, I feel that I am best at field studies and developing field trips for students.
One of my passions is community development. I am currently working with Growing Places Farm and Energy Park in Centralia to create pathways for K-12 students to continue their education at Centralia College with the goal of coming to Evergreen as undergraduates and eventually graduate students in the MES program.
I enjoy my role at Evergreen as Director of MES. This is a bit of community development as well as striving for academic excellence. As Director, I am facilitating with our faculty and staff opportunities for classes, internships and scholarships. I hope that over the next three years, MES will continue its national leadership in graduate education. I attend national meetings and engage in work with local entities to create opportunities for students. I am on the Energy Advisory Board for Growing Places Farm and Energy Park and the Advisory Board of the Center for Excellence in Energy at Centralia College.
I am passionate about geography! I can not play Trivial Pursuit, I do not know all the capitals! But I do know something about the philosophical and cultural ways in which humans transform landscapes over time. I am passionate about my on-going research about wild land fire in Greece and our national forests and parks in the US. I hope to share that passion with others in class and research publications. One of my favorite class field trips was to Goldendale, WA to ‘see’ the eastern Mediterranean ideals as they are imprinted on the landscape of eastern Washington.