Michael (Mick) Womersley
Jackson, Maine, 04921
Contact information:
Telephone: 207 948 3131, ext. 565; home: 207 722 3431
E-mail: mickatum@aol.com, or mwomersley@unity.edu
Born October 3, 1961, Chesterfield, England, E.C. Citizen, US
Permanent Resident Alien
Married to Aimee Phillippi, PhD (US Citizen)
Ph.D., Policy Studies (Environmental Policy), University of
Maryland School of Public Policy, 2002
M.S., Resource Conservation (Social Sciences), University of
Montana Forestry School, 1996
B.A., Biology (Zoology, Natural History), University of Montana,
1994
Human ecological sustainability, human ecology, environmental
values and ethics, ecological economics, city and rural planning, US and UK
environmental history and policy
August 2000-present: Assistant, then Associate Professor of Human
Ecology, Unity College, ME.
Teaching and mentoring undergraduate students in environmental
degree programs, including primary responsibility for teaching an undergraduate
courses in sustainability and associated degree programs sustainability; also
teaching of courses in economics, geography, natural resource planning,
conservation and environmental policy history, and the social science of human
economic development. Other responsibilities include holding the elected
position of Faculty Moderator, and appointed positions as secretary of
curriculum planning committee and chair of sustainability committee,
participating in institutional fundraising, in overall curriculum planning, in
college and community activities, and leading student research and practical
sustainability projects. (For research and writing interests see publications
section and statement of teaching and research interests).
August 2005- July 2007: Interim Provost, Chief Academic Officer,
and Senior Vice President, Unity College.
Responsible to the President of the College for the integrity of
the academic curriculum, for the fiscal integrity of the academic budgets, and
for the general health of the institution. Responsible for decisions involving
the hiring, evaluation, promotion, termination of all faculty and academic
staff. Maintain appointment as Associate Professor (below). Improved academic
management contributed to retention and budget increases, improvement in
academic quality and student services, improvement in engagement and campus
sustainability indicators. In charge of campus sustainability.
August 1996-May 2002: PhD Candidate in Environmental Policy at
Maryland School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland at College Park.
Dissertation a historical, ethnographic, and normative (ethical)
analysis and policy study of the new movement of religious environmentalism in
the United States and its expected impacts on various ecological
economic/environmental policies, but particularly global climate change and oil
depletion. Dissertation advisors: Drs. Robert H. Sprinkle, Herman E. Daly, Robert
Nelson, Willett Kempton (UDel) Peter G. Brown, and William T. Stuart.
June - July 2000: Visiting Professor, teaching course titled
"Population and Conservation", Graduate School of Environmental
Studies, Bard College, New York. (Two credit graduate seminar in population
ecology and conservation biology praxis).
January 2000 - May 2000: Visiting Instructor, teaching course
titled ÒIntroduction to Ecological Economics,Ó University of Georgia Institute
of Ecology.
Two-credit graduate seminar in ecological economics, including
design of new course curriculum. Participated in Georgia conservation easement
case study. Advised GA Governor's Greenspace Commission on environmental policy
options, wrote items of legislation related to Tax Incremental Financing (TIF)
of greenspace programs
February 1998 - January 2000: NOAA Sea Grant Fellow in
Environmental Policy: Research Assistant to Mark Sagoff and David Wasserman,
Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy (IPPP), Maryland School of Public
Policy, University of Maryland at College Park.
Responsible for "Environmental Protection and Waterman
Communities: The Impacts of New Polices on Old Ways of Life,"
environmental policy study using anthropological techniques to investigate the
impact of Maryland "Smart Growth" and other land conservation policy
initiatives on Chesapeake Bay fishing villages. In October 1999, informally
ÒloanedÓ to the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia, to work on
Georgia land use policies similar to MarylandÕs, under Laurie Fowler, JD,
Professor of Public Policy, Institute of Ecology, UGA.
February 1997 - February 1998: NOAA Sea Grant Fellow in
Environmental Policy: Research Assistant to Mark Sagoff and David Wasserman,
IPPP.
Responsible for completion of "Ecological Restoration and the
Sense of Place", focus group and ethical/aesthetic policy research into
the cultural construction of place in Calvert County, MD, and the ways in which
senses of place inform "Smart Growth" and other regional
environmental policies. Also funded by Maryland Sea Grant College.
June 1997 - August 1999: Executive Director, Maryland Mountain
Trust.
Organized and managed local conservation non-profit, raised funds,
negotiated conservation easements, negotiated with state and federal agencies,
produced promotional literature, organized events, gave public presentations,
all in furtherance of land trust protection for farm and forestland in western
Maryland.
August 1996 - January 1997: Teaching Assistant and Staff,
Environmental Studies Program, College Park Scholars (interdisciplinary honors
program in environmental studies), University of Maryland at College Park.
Responsible for teaching "Introduction to Environmental
Studies," 3 cr., two sections, freshman survey course requiring two hours
of classroom teaching and discussion per week plus field trip labs. Also
responsible for grading of assignments; counseling, mentoring, and "crisis
management" for the 120 freshman and sophomores in the honors
environmental studies program (a residential "community learning"
course with program office in dorm); as well as designing, organizing, and
executing all required field trip excursions, including overnight camps, and
general institutional management of the program itself.
July 1994 - July 1996: Research Assistant and MS Candidate under
Dr. Alan McQuillan, Forestry School, University of Montana. Member of research
program "Environmental and Cultural Sustainability in Hinterland Regions
of Developed Nations."
Responsible for performing historical, policy, and social science
research into the effectiveness of the UK Highlands and Islands Development
Board, 1965-1995, and its implications for ecological economics and sustainable
development policy and theory. Responsibilities included preparing and submitting
the grant proposal, cooperating in general team research, developing the idea
for, and writing one chapter of, the resulting anthology on ecological
economics and sustainable development (published June 1998: see grants and
awards and publications sections). Thesis advisors: Drs. Alan Mc.Quillan, David
Jackson, John Photiades, Richmond Clow
June 1990 - July 1994: Conservation Field Program Coordinator,
Wilderness Institute, School of Forestry, University of Montana.
Responsible for field and classroom teaching of environmental
policy issues, natural history, and outdoor safety, as needed for an innovative
community-learning minor degree program in conservation and environmental
studies. Designing and implementing risk management program for field trip safety
(received commendation from UM Campus Legal Counsel), managing large field
programs and other institute-related events, including seminars, conferences
(see grants and awards section), and board meetings, hiring and training of
outdoor program instructors, including necessary rescue and medical training.
In related areas: started a campus based, volunteer mountain rescue team (in a
mountain area where no accredited MRA team previously existed), handled
"outfitter" permitting with federal land management agencies, and
provided regional and national public involvement and institutional assistance
to wilderness management issues in general. Further information at: http://www.forestry.umt.edu/wi/
December 1978 – August 1985: Airman, then Junior Technician,
then Corporal, Royal Air Force (RAF) and RAF Mountain Rescue Service (UK).
Primary duty was aircraft maintenance, secondary duty mountain rescue. As
aircraft propulsion technician and supervisory technician, maintained military
aircraft, supervised and trained maintenance and flight line mechanics. Ran
equipment shops and jet engine repair shops. Qualifications and experience as
supervisory technician (sign-off responsibility for aircraft serviceability) and
trade training instructor. As rescue party leader, acted as military medic and
junior leader in organization responsible for aircraft crash rescue over all
land area of the United Kingdom, also assisting authorities with general
civilian search and rescue. Qualifications and experience as medic, rescue
trainer and organizer, high angle rescue specialist, mountaineering, rock, snow
and ice climbing instructor. NCO course (second in class of 60), basic service
leadership and weapons training, drill, PT.
Lifetime Service to SAR and SAR Team
Memberships
Present; faculty advisor to Unity College SAR Team, member MASAR
Board
1991-1996: Western Montana Mountain Rescue team
1990-1991: Missoula County Sheriffs SAR Team, Montana
1988-1989: Sanders County Sheriffs SAR Team, Montana
1985: RAF Leuchars Mountain Rescue Team, Scotland
1983-1985: RAF Linton-on-Ouse Mountain Rescue Team, England
1979-1983: RAF Leeming Mountain Rescue Team, England
Academic and Policy Publications
Journalistic and General Interest Articles of Academic
Significance:
(Numerous newspaper and magazine articles available on request)
Preaching NOT to the Converted, Why Sustainability Education
should be Required for all College and University Students, in Declaration, the magazine of University Leaders for a
Sustainable Future, summer 2004
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment,
article in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, online encyclopedia http://www.religionandnature.com/ , also in hard copy, 2003, Continuum
International Publishers Ltd, London, England.
Papers in Peer-Reviewed Journals and
Edited Anthologies
Conscription: Between the Horns, Philosophy and Public
Policy, Fall 2003.
Community Contamination and the Attribution of Blame: The
Dunsmuir Metam Sodium Spill, with (first author) Rebecca Richards, in Society
and Natural Resources Journal, spring 1999.
Preserving the Watermens' Way of Life, with (first author)
David Wasserman, in Philosophy and Public Policy, Fall 1997. (This paper chosen for
inclusion in anthology of IPPP best papers for decade 1990-2000)
Full text available at
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/ippp/Fall97Report/preserving_the_watermen.htm
Can A Sense of Place be Preserved? , with (first author)
David Wasserman and Sara Gottlieb, in Philosophy and Geography III:
Philosophies of Place.,
eds., Andrew Light and Jonathan M. Smith, December 1998.
Smart Growth, Sprawl and Climate Change Mitigation in the
United States, in Ruth, M.
(ed.). Smart Growth and Climate Change: Regional Development, Infrastructure
and Adaptation
Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, US, Edward Elgar, 2005.
Educating AmericaÕs Youth: Unity CollegeÕs Required Courses in
Sustainability, with (second author) Christopher Marshall in Teaching
Sustainability at Universities, published by Peter Lang, Frankfurt, Germany, chapters reviewed by the
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2002.
Thirty Years in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
Chapter 4 in Globally and Locally: the Economics of Sustainable Development, eds., Alan McQuillan and Ashley
Preston, University Press of America, 1998
Academic and Policy Presentations, Speeches and Talks
(Upcoming): Creating a GHG Inventory. Invited talk, panel
member, National Association of College and University Business Officers
national webinar, March 12th 2008
Unity College Sustainability Policy (invited talk), American
Council on Renewable Energy Higher Education Committee meeting, November 28th,
2007, Republican Club, Washington, DC.
Energy Markets, Renewables, and Climate Change, at Colby
College Goldfarb Energy Symposium, Nov. 10th, 2006
Interface with Place: Parks, Protected Areas, and Local
Communities
Acadia Partners for
Science and Learning: Approaches to Park and Protected Area Management,
Traditional Local Resource Use, and Land Tenure in the US, Scotland, and the
Rest of the UK, given at the Schoodic Education and Research Center, Acadia National Park, 2005
Security/Needs; Sustainability/Rights: Systems, Feedback and
Ethics in International Affairs, given at the international conference of
the International Society for Ecological Economics, Montreal, July, 2004
Religious Environmentalism in America, at the NE regional
conference of the Society for Human Ecology, Keene, New Hampshire, May, 2002,
also scheduled for the US Society for Ecological Economics Annual Meeting,
Saratoga, NY, May 2003.
Whose "Rural Legacy" is it
Anyway? Ethical and Cultural Problems with Maryland's Rural Preservation
Programs. At the XIth Conference of the Society for Human Ecology, Jackson
Hole Wyoming, October 2000.
Conservation Easements: Are they any Good for Farmers? at
Georgia Farm Bureau Annual Convention, Jekyll Island, Georgia, January 2000.
Conserving Inhabited Landscapes, with Kara J. Unger, at the
1999 Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, University of Maryland, College Park. Abstract
available at http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Colleges/LFSC/FacultyStaff/dinouye/scbabstracts/Womersley.htm
Urban Restoration at Centuries End: Three Case Studies from
Baltimore, at the 1999 Conference of the Society for Philosophy and
Geography, Towson University, MD.
Sustainable Development in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
1965-1995, October 1996 at the University of Maryland Harrison Program for International Development
Luncheon Series.
(This slide lecture also given at various other venues, including
The Land Institute, UMT Forestry School, School of Public Affairs, etc).
Awards and grants
Fall 2006, primary negotiator in team securing donation of two
million dollar Unity Center for the Performing Arts and associated park to
Unity College. Won vote at Unity Town meeting securing transfer.
January 2004: Colleagues on a Mission Award, Unity College, cited
Òfor going above and beyond on a daily basis and his involvement in many
student programs and committees.Ó
2000: Paper, Preserving the Watermens' Way of Life,
co-authored with David Wasserman, chosen for inclusion in anthology of Òten
best papersÓ from Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy from 1990-2000.
1998: Maryland Sea Grant. Competitive award of fellowship and
grant from Maryland Sea Grant (NOAA) for "Environmental Protection and
Waterman Communities: The Impacts of New Polices on Old Ways of Life,"
study under co-principal investigators Mark Sagoff and David Wasserman,
Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy.
1997: Maryland Sea Grant. Competitive award of fellowship and
grant from Maryland Sea Grant (NOAA) for "Ecological Restoration and Sense
of Place", study under co-principal investigators Mark Sagoff and David
Wasserman, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy.
1994: International Eco-Development Institute (Hokaido, Japan).
Author of proposal ($249,000) for Program A, ecological sustainability study at
the University of Montana. Author of proposal under supervision of co-principal
investigator Dr. Alan McQuillan.
1994: International Eco-Development Institute. Author and
negotiator for $100,000 award to City of Superior, Montana, for sustainable
development and job creation after closure of timber mill.
1993: United States Forest Service, Washington DC Office, combined
Interior Department Agencies (BLM, NPS, USFWS). Author of grant proposal
($25,000) and coordinator of "LAC 93" wilderness management
conference at the University of Montana.
References
Dr. Mitchell Thomashow, President, Unity College, Unity, Maine,
04951, telephone USA 207 948 3131 ext 224, email mthomashow@unity.edu
Dr. Peter G. Brown, Professor, McGill School of the Environment,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada, telephone 514-398-8967, email peter.g.brown@mcgill.ca
Dr. Chris Marshall, Professor, Unity College, Unity, Maine, 04951,
telephone USA 207 948 3131 ext 284, email cmarshall@unity.edu