Meet the           Faculty            

Nalini Nadkarni is a celebrated canopy ecologist, a professor at Evergreen College, and an award-winning scholar. Her research is focused on the ecology of tropical and temperate forest canopies, particularly the role that canopy-dwelling plants play in forests at the ecosystem level. She has published two books and over 55 scientific articles in scientific journals in the area of forest canopy ecology and forest ecosystem ecology. She has appeared in numerous television documentaries, including National Geographic’s Heroes of the High Frontier, which won the Emmy Award for Best Documentary Film of 2001. In 2001, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue her interests in communication of forest canopy research results to non-scientists with collaborations of artists, musicians, physicians, sports figures, and religious leaders. Dynamic outreach programs and projects include creating a freestyle canopy rap song with Duke Brady and developing tree top barbie who sports clothing and accessories that a forest canopy researcher would wear and use. Nalini also co-founded and is president of the International Canopy Network that fosters communication among researchers, educators, and conservationists concerned with forest canopies.

Janisse Ray is an American writer and naturalist born in Baxley, Georgia. Her first book, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, recounts her experiences growing up in a junkyard, the daughter of a poor, white, fundamentalist family. It won the Southeastern Booksellers Award for Nonfiction in 1999 and the Southern Environmental Law Center Award for Outstanding Writing on the southern Environment, the Southern Book Critics circle Award for Nonfiction, and the American Book Award in 2000. Her recent works include Wild Card Quilt and Pinhook. Ray has also been a contributor to Audubon, Orion, and other magazines, as well as a commentator for NPR’s Living on Earth. Her short story, “Pilgrimage” recently appeared in The Georgia Review. An environmental activist and dedicated naturalist, she has campaigned on behalf of the Altamaha River and the Moody Swamp, and is a founding board member of the Altamaha Riverkeeper. She has also helped to form the Georgia nature-based Tourism Association and continues workingto preserve the 3,400-acre Moody forest in Appling County. 

 

Carey Stanton is the senior director of education for the National Wildlife Federation. Her numerous accomplishments at the NWF include the founding “Earth Tomorrow,” a leadership development program that connects urban youths with nature, in Detroit Michigan, and educational outreach for films such as New Line Cinema’s Hoot.She also was the principal advisor & faculty for the launch of Al Gore's Climate Project in the United States and Australia.

Lowell Monke is associate professor of Education at Wittenberg University. He is coauthor of Breaking Down the Digital Walls: Learning to Teach in a Post-Modem World (SUNY Press, 2001), and numerous articles on the role of technology in education. For twenty years Lowell taught young people with and about computers in schools in the U. S., South America and Europe. He is a founding board member of The Alliance for Childhood. Currently, Lowell is working on a new book titled Education Unplugged: An Argument for Technological Modesty in 21st Century Schools.

H. Emerson Blake was trained as an ecologist, and his first editorial job was with a biology journal. After a decade as an editor at Orion, he assumed the role of editor-in-chief at Milkweed Editions, a book publisher. In 2005 he returned to Orion to serve as the magazine’s editor-in-chief and as the executive director of The Orion Society. He is the editor of hundreds of magazine articles, as well as many books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s fiction.

Kathryn Miles is associate professor and director of the environmental writing program at Unity College. She trained as a journalist before taking her PhD in English at the University of Delaware. Since then, she has been an active member of Unity’s Environmental Stewardship Curriculum and also serves as coordinator of the Environmental Writing program at the college. Kathryn publishes a regular column on service learning for CEA, as well as a monthly feature called “Backcountry Bistro.” Her journalism and scholarship have appeared in dozens of publications.

Mitch Thomashow is a noted author and a founding member of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. Before becoming president of Unity College in 2006, he served as Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Associate Dean for Institutional Advancement at the Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire. His most recent book entitled Bringing the Biosphere Home (MIT Press), is a guide for learning how to perceive global environmental change. In 1995, Thomashow published Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist, a guide to teachers, educators, and concerned citizens that incorporates issues of citizenship, ecological identity, and civic responsibility within the framework of environmental studies.