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Meet the AAEE Board
2008 President Lisa Herrmann
The Riparian Institute
Gilbert, AZ
lherrmann@cox.net
(480) 209-6946
Lisa Hermann is the Education Coordinator at the Riparian Institute in Gilbert, Arizona. She came to this position through years of work as a science educator and in the environmental arena in both Texas and Connecticut. She completed her Master in Science Education at the University of Houston under the guidance of Dr. John Ramsey, noted environmental education author and researcher. Her current interests in the field of environmental education are in furthering the recognition of the professional status of our state's fine educators through programs offered by NAAEE and EETAP.
2008 Board Members:
2009 President-Elect Cheryl Miller
Northern Arizona Unviersity, Centennial Forest
Flagstaff, AZ
Cheryl.Miller(at)nau(dot)edu
(928) 523-6727
Cheryl Miller is an Arizona native and a 2001 graduate of the NAU School of Forestry. As a trained forester she serves the NAU Centennial Forest as education coordinator. She has experience in forestry, forestry consulting in the Southwest and outdoor education. In addition to co-instructing sourses such as FOR 220 Field Plant identification, FOR 203 Project Learning Tree and FOR 204 Project WIld, during the summer months she has the opportunity to serve as the Camp Director for the Centennial Forest Summer Education Porgrams.
Floyd Gray
2007 President
University of Arizona, Department of Geosciences
Tucson, AZ
domino_gray@hotmail.com
(520) 904-7432
Floyd Gray was born in New Orleans and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He received his B.A. degrees from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Earth Science and Anthropology, and his M.S. degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherest in Geology. Floyd is a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is Adjunct Faculity at the UA Geosciences Department, and currently serves as Director of Students Across the Borders - an Earth Science Program for Hispanic High School Students. Floyd is a board member and partner of CATTS-Collaboration to Advance Teaching and Science - a training program for Graduate and Undergraduate teaching fellows.
For the last several years, he has worked with the UA Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy on its ECOSTART program. ECOSTART, a watershed-based environmental education program, builds the capacity of Sonoran school teachers to educate K-12 students about water conservation, ecology, bird and fish habitats tied to the US-Mexico border region of the San Pedro River. Floyd also is a GLOBE trainer and works with SAHRA to develop GLOBE in communities in rural areas of Sonora, Mexico. His interests lie in communicating environmental science and its relevancy to the local community to empower students to change their fortunes by guiding them through cultural and economic borders that often separate them from success in higher education and careers in science.
Julie Blake-Gidley
Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix, AZ
jgidley@dbg.org
(480) 481-8123
Julie graduated from NAU with a Master of Liberal Studies degree in environmental education and a bachelor's degree in environmental science with an emphasis in biology. She is a former AAEE board member who served a two-year term as Treasurer in 2001-2002.
Julie left the Board to complete her masters' thesis research "Cultivating Connections: Understanding good practice environmental education in Arizona and New Zealand Schools" and her secondary science teaching certification at Page Middle School and Raglan Area School (in New Zealand). Before traveling to New Zealand with her then boyfriend (now husband), Julie worked as an Instructional Specialist with the NAU Ecological Restoration Institute. She is currently managing the children's programs at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix where she enjoys sharing the wonders of nature with preschoolers in the Sammy Seedlings Program and older children in the DGB camp programs.
Amy Ford
Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant
Phoenix, AZ
amyford@mail.maricopa.gov
(602) 372-7470 ext.207
Amy Ford marks her start as an environmental educator as the day she brought a wild snake to school on career day in the fifth grade. Amy earned a B.S. degree in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, with an emphasis in Human Ecology ( the study of people's relationship to their environment). After college, Amy migrated west to work as both a front-line educator and 'behind-the-scenes' interpretive exhibit designer at seeral California State and National Parks, including Point Reyes National Seashore, Pfeiffer Big Sur, Santa Cruz Mission Historic Park and Henry Cowell Redwoods.
Amy and her husband Duane have always loved the beauty of the Southwest, and were married in the Valley of the Sun in 2001, moving there shortly thereafter. Amy grew her desert knowledge at the Desert Botanical Garden, working first as Children's Program Coordinator and later as Interpretive Programs Coordinator. Her current position is Interpretive Ranger at the pristine Desert Outdoor Center at Lake Pleasant, a Maricopa County Park dedicated to excellence in environmental education.
Brenda King
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Tucson, Arizona
520-883-3027
Brenda graduated from San Diego State University with a B.S. in Zoology and received a teaching credential from National University shortly thereafter. She worked as a substitute instructor throughout San Diego County for elementary through high school students and was the on-site substitute instructor at the Chula Vista Nature Interpretive Center. In 1993 she began working as an educator and animal keeper at the San Diego Zoo where she conducted outreach to schools and community events. In 1998 Brenda relocated to Orlando, Florida to be part of the opening team for Disney's Animal Kingdom.
She has been working at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum since 2000, and as an Education Specialist there since 2002. As part of her job she conducts outreach programs to schoolchildren of all ages, teaches summer camps, trains and handles animals for programs and special appearances, creates new programs, and coordinates the docent volunteer outreach program. In May 2007 Brenda received her Masters Degree from George Mason University in Conservation Education.
Vicky Massy-Secretary
Mesa Public Schools, Science & Social Science Resource Center
Mesa, AZ
gvmassey@cox.net
(480) 472-0270
Vicki Massy is a resident of Mesa, Arizona with an interest in preserving the resources and beauty of her native state. She graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Elementray Education and taught various grade levels 1-6, including gifted education, during her 20 year career as a classroom teacher in Tempe and Mesa public schools.
Recently receiving a Masters of Arts in Science Teaching degree from Northern Arizona University, Vicki is currently an elementary science, social sciences and world language specialist for Mesa Public Schools. In her community Vicki serves as an Environmental Science Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts of America as well as a sponsor/leader of the Mendoza Elementary 4-H Garden Club. She hopes that by working on environmental education with the youth she will be able to impact the future in a positive way.
Kim Michel-Treasurer
Arizona State University, School of Life Science
Tempe, AZ
kimmichelaz@yahoo.com
(480) 965-1653
Kim Michel is a Laboratory Coordinator in the School of Life Science at Arizona State University. She comes to the position after experience in environmental education with different organizations including Arizona Game and Fish Department, The Phoenix Zoo, and ASU.
Kim has a BS in Ecology from ASU and is completing a Master's in International Environmental Management and Sustainability. She feels there is a need for environmental education as most of the Earth's environments are in jeopardy. Without educating the population, what hope do we have in preserving our planet's biodiversity? Knowledge breeds caring and commitment, which leads to my commitment to environmental education. I hope to share knowledge with others about our planet's diverse environments, and with that, aid in the combined goal of conservation.
Debi Molina-Walters
Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus
Mesa, AZ
DrMo(at)asu(dot)edu
(480)-748-6562
Debi Molina-Walters, known as Mo, is a California native who joined the ASU Polytechnic education staff in August of 2004. Mo currently teaches elementary and secondary science method courses, is the program coordinator for the post-baccalaureate TEACHME credential program and the developer of the Annual Education Fair. In addition to teaching, Mo is a national consultant in the areas of teaming, strategies for monitoring student learning, and data-driven school improvement.
Mo holds an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of the Pacific a Masters of Science in Environmental Education and Masters of Arts in School Counseling. Prior to earning her doctorate, Mo spent 6 years teaching elementary school, 16 years teaching middle school science, math and computers, and 2 years teaching high school science.
As a newcomer to Arizona and ASU, Mo has dedicated this past year to increasing student awareness of community resources and developing classes and programs to highlight environmental issues of Arizona.
Candice Rupprect
Candice Rupprecht moved to Tucson from the Seattle area in 2000 to pursue her interest in understanding our natural envrionment in a state where we can study and enjoy the outdoors all year. While pursuing her B.S. in Geology at the University of Arizona she worked with several K-12 environmental education programs, including Arizona Project WET and Project Learning Tree, to help teachers implement environmental education in their classrooms.
Candice is currently the statewide coordinator for the Arizona Master Watershed Steward Program, an adult education program that educates and trains citizens to serve as volunteers in the restoration, monitoring, and conservation of our watersheds. Prior to working for Cooperative Extension she taught an undergraduate course about Arizona's water issues at the University of Arizona. Candice is finishing her M.S. degree in Hydrology and Water Resources and has a strong interest in engaging our public in observing and understanding our envrionment.
Cathy Wise
(602) 468-6470
Catheryn graduated from the University of California Davis in 1991 with a B.S. in Avian Sciences. She has since studied birds in the west and southwest for sixteen years and has worked for agencies such as the US Forest Service, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Arizona Game and Fish Department. With Troy Corman, she coauthored the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas, published in 2005. Her volunteer pursuits included work with the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, the UC Davis Raptor Center, Liberty Wildlife and the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. Cathryn has always enjoyed sharing her love of and fascination with birds with the general public, especially with children.
She was pleased to accept the position of Education Programs Coordinator with Audubon Arizona in October 2006, and her primary focus at present is to spread a conservation message (and engaging environmental education programming) to the diverse audiences of Arizona, particularly those of south Phoenix. Cathryn is the proud mother of a three year old son, Joey. Her hobbies include backpacking, rock-climbing, gardening and of course, birding.
Matthew Zierenberg
Northern Arizona University, Tribal Environmental Education Outreach Program
Flagstaff, AZ
Matthew.Zierenberg(at)nau(dot)edu
(928)-523-8864
Upon graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership, Matthew moved his small family to Kansas were he worked as the Program Director of the Wildwood Outdoor Education Center.
There he had the privilege of introducing inner city youth to the wonders of the natural world and worked with their teachers and schools, to integrate environmental education into their classrooms through projects such as; PLT, Project Wild, Project Wet as well as local EE programs such as Kansas Stream Link. This was a sweet time in his life due to the fact that, while he was teaching, leading and inspiring inner city youth, he was also able to teach lead and inspire his own young son to enjoy and respect the environment. This has been his greatest success in environmental education. Matthew now works with Native American students and schools as one of the Program Coordinators of the Tribal Environmental Education Outreach Program at Northern Arizona University. He is working towards a second Bachelors degree in Biology Education and a Masters of Business Administration from NAU. It has been a wonderful journey with many more adventure to come.