Instructors

George Bieri: Land Management/Invasive Species
Land Manager, Glen Helen Nature Preserve.  Having attended Antioch College and growing up in the area, the instructor has been learning first-hand about trees as well as the general ecology of Glen Helen for decades.  In addition to performing trail maintenance, and carrying out restoration efforts for the 1,ooo-acre preserve, George also serves as a monitor of land easements for the Tecumseh Land Trust.

Kathleen Bundy: Environmental Policy
Ohio Community Organizer and Democracy School lecturer, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund; B.A., Wright State University; Masters of Humanities, Wright State University.  As an activist focused on decreasing the negative effects of agribusiness factory farms on Ohio communities and ecosystems, the Instructor has worked with citizens around the state, media outlets, environmental watchdog groups, and has had firsthand experience with regulatory agencies.  Her efforts have not only focused on the factory farm fight but also the deconsolidation of public media and election reform.  In addition, she has also worked as a freelance writer, producer and amateur documentarian with local, public media.

Nick Boutis: Environmental Leadership/The Population Connection
Executive Director, Glen Helen Ecology Institute; B.A., Oberlin College; M.G.A., University of Maryland in Non-Profit Management. He received his naturalist training from the Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center. Prior experiences in environmental and conservation education include work at Old Woman Creek State Nature Preserve and the National Audubon Society. Most recently, the Instructor coordinated teacher training programs for Population Connection. He is active in the North American Association for Environmental Education, the Association of Nature Center Administrators, and the Environmental Education Council of Ohio.

Dennie Eagelsen: Sense of Place Photography
Associate Professor of Photography; B.A., Antioch College: M.F.A. University of Cincinnati. The instructor has been teaching photography at Antioch College since 1987. The instructor’s teaching philosophy encourages student exploration of the medium as a means of self-expression and as a way to communicate concerns about the world. The instructor exhibits work regionally and nationally. The Instructor’s research interests include addressing multicultural issues through the arts, non-traditional families, and contemporary culture and social organization in Cuba. The instructor recently curated a show of contemporary Cuban photography for exhibition in the Herndon Art Gallery at Antioch College titled “Cuba: Siempre Viva”, which has been touring nationally.

Sarah Hippensteel: Stream Study
Program Development Specialist for the Miami Conservancy District; B.S., Ohio State University; M.A., Antioch University; PhD. (in progress), Antioch University. The instructor is responsible for organizing watershed planning, education and implementation efforts that protect the Great Miami River. The instructor's undergraduate degree specialized in watershed resource policy and planning, while the instructor's graduate degree specialized in citizen involvement in watershed issues. The instructor helped create and manage Indiana's statewide volunteer water quality monitoring and adopt-a-river programs with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The instructor also has industry experience as an Environmental Information Specialist for a water quality testing equipment manufacturer.

Lynn Holtzman: Wildlife Natural Heritage
B.A., Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio; M.S. (in progress), Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. The instructor has been working as a wildlife biologist for 29 years for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife in western Ohio. The Instructor’s worked primarily involved ecosystem restoration on private land, particularly wetland and native prairie grassland restoration. The Instructor has developed, administered and implemented wildlife projects such as the Bobwhite Quail and Transfer program to re-establish quail populations in western Ohio and the Pastures to Prairie Program, which provides financial incentives to restore native prairie on private land. In addition, the Instructor has designed and restored over 100 wetland sites in western Ohio.

Rebecca Jaramillo: Environmental Education
Assistant Director, Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center; B.A.,University of San Diego in Marine Science; M.A., University of New Mexico in Recreation-Outdoor Environmental Education.  The instructor has worked as an environmental educator since 2002.  She has taught environmental education to every age range in a variety of formal and informal settings.  In 2004-2006 she was the education coordinator for a non-profit avian research and education organization, responsible for developing and maintaining educational programs throughout the state.  In addition, the Instructor is a certified natural interpreter through the National Association for Interpretation.

Cheryl Keen: Executive Institute Consultant
College Professor; B.S., Bethany College; M.Ed., Ed.D., Harvard University. The Instructor has taught graduate students, adult and traditionally aged college students, and high school students. As an educational practitioner, the instructor has designed and led several programs, including the Harvard Peace and Conflict Studies program and the Governors School on Public Issues on the Future of New Jersey. All of the instructor’s classes at Antioch College included service-learning. The instructor frequently speaks and leads workshops on the instructor’s research and co-authored book, Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World, (Beacon Press, 1996) for which the instructor helped create an accompanying video. The instructor was the Senior Research Fellow for the Bonner Foundation, doing a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of community service programs at 25 colleges. At Antioch College, the instructor served as co-Dean of Faculty, director of the Writing Center and Academic Support Center, Admissions Specialist, and professor teaching courses in adolescent development, school reform, and conflict. In 2001 the instructor was selected as the Higher Education Leader of the Year by the National Society for Experiential Education. Several of the instructor’s publications address environmental education and education for the gifted.

Beth Krisko: Plant Identification/Forest Community Ecology
Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center Director and Summer Honors Institute Director; B.A. and M.En., Miami University of Ohio. The instructor’s environmental work includes scientific research, land management, environmental education, and environmental education administration. The Instructor’s graduate research focused on eastern deciduous forest ecology, with a particular interest in distribution of plant communities across landscapes. The instructor’s Masters thesis identified, catalogued, and mapped the vegetation of the Glen Helen Nature Preserve. The instructor is an Ohio licensed teacher for grades 7-12 Life Sciences and has worked as an environmental educator and administrator for five years

Colette Palamar: Environmental Studies/Eco-art
Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Environmental Studies; A.A., Penn State University; B.A., East Stroudsburg University; M.S., University of Idaho; M.A., Bowling Green State University; Ph.D., Bowling Green State University; M.F.A., Bowling Green State University. The instructor’s academic background is diverse and unusual, and has culminated in several bodies of work combining her experiences in the sciences, arts, and humanities. The instructor’s doctoral work focused on developing an interdisciplinary concept of 'dwelling,' and used a unique and distinctive style (called philoetry-a combination of philosophy and poetry) to both explain and demonstrate the instructor’s vision of 'dwelling'. The instructor is currently working on a book that will further develop theoretical and pragmatic aspects of what it means to dwell in the world. The instructor’s ceramic installations are conceptually based and environmentally themed. The instructor’s installations have been shown all over the United States, with recent shows in New Orleans, San Francisco, and Seattle. The instructor continues to work with clay and installation art. The instructor’s current work, titled "At the Speed of Walk," is a visual documentation of the instructor’s immersion in and attentiveness to the natural world in southwest Ohio. The instructor also presents and publishes in the fields of environmental philosophy and ecological restoration. The instructor is currently working on several articles that explore the relationships between ecological feminism, environmentalism, and ecological restoration. Before joining the Antioch College faculty, the instructor taught full time in the Center for Environmental Programs at Bowling Green State University, and served as the Center's Ecological Restoration Manager. At Antioch College, the instructor teaches a wide variety of classes including Introduction to Environmental Studies, Environmental Strategies, Environmental Art, Prairie Restoration, Contemporary Environmental Thought, Ecology and Feminism, Environmental Policy in Comparative Perspective, Green History in the United States, and Environmental Philosophy. The instructor is also the Director of Antioch College’s Herndon Arts Gallery.

Betty Ross: Wildlife Ecology and Rehabilitation
The Instructor has been the Glen Helen Raptor Center Director since 1987. The Instructor holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University with teaching credentials for the elementary level. She develops and presents the education programs for the Raptor Center for all ages, both on-site at the Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center and off-site, as well as conducting all rehabilitation efforts. The Instructor is a member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, (formerly serving as the chair of the education committee, and currently chairing the raptor sessions at the annual conference), the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, and the Ohio Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (serving as its President since its inception). The Instructor participates and presents at national and state conferences, attending all sessions concerning education and raptors.

Peter Townsend: Environmental Science/Geology
Professor of Environmental Science and Geology; B. A., Williams College; M.S., University of Vermont. The instructor is an Earth Scientist with primary interests in applying geology to environmental problems. Most of the instructor’s professional work is in service to local governments and citizen environmental groups. The instructor studies groundwater contamination and related environmental problems. In the instructor’s courses, the instructor emphasizes the acquisition of transferable skills such as written and oral communication, problem solving, synthesis and analysis of information, and analytical reasoning as applied to environmental analysis. In upper level courses, the instructor challenges students to integrate material from the entire science curriculum to analyze and solve complex environmental and geologic problems.