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Barbara Bekken, Ph.D.
Geosciences
ES Director
2004 - present
5045 Derring Hall (0420)
540.231.4466 (office)
bekken@vt.edu
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Barbara loves learning and she cares deeply about the natural world. Combining these two passions led her to co-develop the ES program with several other faculty on campus beginning in May, 2003. After the ES courses were initially designed, she partnered with Deb Olsen to obtain sponsored research funding to evaluate the impact of the first and second interdisciplinary, learner-centered pilot projects. Although a geoscientist by training, she has experienced the interdisciplinary epiphany first hand: knowledge and learning skills from one domain DO support learning about another! |
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Rachael Budowle
Interdisciplinary Studies
ES Instructor
2008 - present
351 Lane Hall (0227)
rbudowle@vt.edu |
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Rachael is happy to join the ES program. She has both hands on and research experience with sustainable agriculture and environmental and animal policy. As the Town of Blacksburg’s Solid Waste Community Programs Coordinator, she works daily on local recycling and waste minimization issues. Rachael combines this work with community level sustainability projects in the Center for Applied Behavior Systems where she is a Research Scientist. |
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Shelli Fowler, Ph.D.
Graduate Education Development Institute
ES Advisor: 2004 - present
3210 C Togersen Hall (0292)
540.231.2176
sbfowler@vt.edu |
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Shelli has enjoyed working with the ES faculty since the program began. As an advocate for learner-centered teaching that focuses on helping students become knowledge-producers, (rather than mere knowledge-consumers), Shelli gets ecstatic about the existence of the ES program, and regularly brags about ES students to anyone who asks. Shelli’s primary work with ES is as the pedagogy consultant to the program. She is delighted each time she meets another ES cohort, and looks forward to the opportunities she has to talk with the ES students about 21st-century teaching and learning, as well as about cultural diversity issues. When she is not teaching or talking about teaching, Shelli can often be found on her Bianchi road bike, running in and around the NRV, or at a somewhat more leisurely pace, being walked by her two rescue dogs, Jazz and CJ. |
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Susan Hagen
Mathematics
ES Instructor: 2006 - present
433 McBryde Hall (0123)
540.231.7229
hagen@vt.edu |
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Joan Marie
Science and Technology Studies
ES Course Coordinator
2004 - 2008
133 Lane Hall (0247)
540.250.6569 (cell/office)
joanmarie@vt.edu
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After four great years working with the Earth Sustainability program Joan is refocusing on her dissertation in Science and Technology Studies. She loved the opportunity ES gave her to bring together her passions for teaching, learning, social justice, and care for Earth. She looks forward to continuing her work with ES as a guest speaker and special associate of the program. Her dissertation research parallels many of the ideas and issues that ES explores regarding the concepts of sustainability, environmental education, and humans’ relationship with Earth. She hopes it will contribute to productive conversations about where the residents of Earth choose to go from here. Joan’s love of all Earth’s beauty is expressed in the joy she takes in gardening and watching and listening to the incredible sights and sounds of nature found all around us. |
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Cortney Martin, Ph.D. 
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Course Coordinator: 2008 - present
ES Instructor: 2006 - 2008
544 Whittemore Hall (0118)
540.230.9366 (cell/office)
martinc@vt.edu |
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The innovative teaching and learning approach attracted Cortney to the ES program where she contributes her engineering and technical perspectives. Outside of ES and other academic roles, she spends time with her family, shares ES knowledge with her young sons, and volunteers with their school's Green Club and Chess Club. Cortney enjoys horseback riding, running, tennis, and improving her gardening skills! |
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Sean McGinnis, Ph.D.
Materials Science and Engineering
ES Instructor: 2008 - present
2090 Torgersen
540.231.1446
smcginn@vt.edu |
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Sean has recently transitioned his career to merge his diverse background and experience in science and engineering with his environmental concerns. As the director of the VT Green Engineering Program, he is passionate about teaching students to design products, processes, and systems with environmental impacts as initial constraints. After providing modules for the past two ES groups, he is excited to be fully immersed in this program because of its interdisciplinary, holistic, and learner-centered approach to education. Sean lives in Roanoke with his wife and two young daughters. In addition to enjoying the outdoor activities available in the Blue Ridge Mountains, he is particularly interested and involved in working on sustainability at the local level. |
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Margaret Merrill
Library
ES Instructor: 2004 - present
Library (0434)
540.231.9670
mmerrill@vt.edu |
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Margaret was born in West Virginia, but grew up in southern California. She earned a degree in Philosophy followed by a Masters of Arts in Library Science with a concentration in science reference. Later her interests shifted and in 1979 she was awarded an MS in Agricultural Economics and a graduate certificate in Environmental Ethics. Margaret found her dream job at Virginia Tech in 1997 – working with a College of Agriculture. For nearly 40 years, she has been actively involved in the sustainable agriculture movement in the US and she gets most of her food from local community supported agriculture. Margaret has a daughter and son-in-law, enjoys Scottish heritage activities such as the Highland Games festivals, and works with a charitable organization with historical overtones loosely called the Knights Templar, and enjoys science fiction/fantasy. As for the future, she hopes to keep digging – archaeologically, genealogically, and horticulturally. |
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Lisa Poley, Ph.D.
Public and International Affairs
ES Instructor: 2008 - present
208 Wall Street (0113)
540.231.7032
lpoley@vt.edu |
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Lisa is excited to be joining the Earth Sustainability program this year. She has a background in international and environmenal economics as well as a doctorate in Environmental Design and Planning. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador working with women's groups and microfinance and is a founding member and resident of Shadowlake Village Cohousing in Blacksburg. Cohousing neighborhoods are designed to foster a strong sense of community among residents and to support more sustainable life choices. She is particularly interested in connections between community development, democratic participation and sustainability. |
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Richard Rich, Ph.D.
Political Science
ES Instructor and Lecturer: 2004-present
540.231.5323
rrich@vt.edu
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Professor Richard Rich is passionate about the importance of teaching about the environment. He has led field studies of environmental policy in Europe, serves on the Expert Advisory Panel for the U.S. Climate Change Research Program, and is the Environmental Policy Editor of the on-line Encyclopedia of the Earth. He was formerly Chair of the Department of Political Science, and Director of the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. Richard spends his free time in organic gardening and hopes one day to build a home with cob. |
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Gyorgyi Voros, Ph.D.
English
ES Instructor: 2004 - present
216 Shanks (0112)
540.231.5647
gmvoros@vt.edu |
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Gyorgyi is a poet, writer and scholar with a passionate interest in the human relationship to nonhuman nature. She writes essays on ecopoetry and environmental art and is currently working on a poem sequence about nuclear history and the American West. Her primary role in ES is to bridge perceived gaps between the arts and sciences. Gyorgyi loves to hike and camp, to hunt for mushrooms, to see wild animals, to visit her family in New Jersey and Budapest, to spend as much time in New York City and Santa Fe as possible, and to travel around in the back of beyond looking at famous and obscure artworks.
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Jerry Williams, Ph.D.
Horticulture
ES Instructor: 2008 - present
401F Saunders (0327)
540.231.5655
williamj@vt.edu |
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The novel learning techniques embodied in the ES series have interested Jerry since the inception of the program. Having recently retired from his full time faculty position in horticulture, he joined the team to stay challenged and relevant. Jerry has a passion for gardening and strives to implement sustainable practices in his lifestyle. He takes great pride in being the father of two very successful adult children and being a relatively new grandfather on a steep learning curve. |
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