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Barbara Bekken, Ph.D.
Geosciences
ES Director
2004 - present
5045 Derring Hall (0420)
540.231.4466 (office)
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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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Joan Marie
Science and Technology Studies
ES Course Coordinator
2004 - 2008
133 Lane Hall (0247)
540.250.6569 (cell/office)
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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
540.231.1446
smcginn@vt.edu |
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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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Gyorgyi Voros, Ph.D.
English
ES Instructor:
2004 - present
216 Shanks (0112)
540.231.5647 |
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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 |
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Carola Haas, Ph.D.
Fisheries and Wildlife Science
ES Instructor (2004-6) |
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The ES course allowed Carola to pursue ways to make her work on wildlife conservation in production agricultural and forest lands more accessible to the public. She developed collaborations with members of the nutrition department that resulted in publications and a graduate seminar on Sustainable Foods. Learning from the other ES faculty (and students) has been one of the most enriching experiences of her teaching career. |
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Brinkley Benson
Horticulture
ES Instructor
(2006-8) |
Lori Blanc, Ph.D.
Biology
ES Instructor
(2006-8) |
David Dillard, Ph.D.
Engineering Science and Mechanics
ES Instructor
(2006-7) |
Dale Jenkins
Communication
ES COMM Instructor (2006-7) |
Lisa Norris
English
ES ENGL Instructor
(2004-5) |
Barbara Reeves, Ph.D.
Interdisciplinary Studies
ES Instructor
(2004-6) |
Richard Rich, Ph.D.
Political Science
ES Instructor and Lecturer (2004-present) |
Tiffany Trent
English
ES ENGL Instructor
(2004-2005) |
