Michael Sherraden
Alum 2003Michael Sherraden, PhD, is the founding director of the Center for Social Development and the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor. Working with CSD colleagues and many partners, he creates and tests innovations to improve social and economic well-being. His research results have also informed inclusive and progressive Child Development Accounts in St. Louis, other U.S. cities and states, and internationally. In addition, his research on Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s contributed to the creation of AmeriCorps. Among other awards, he has been a Fulbright Scholar and listed by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Carolyn Servid
Alum 2003Carolyn Servid co-founded The Island Institute, a nonprofit organization in Sitka, Alaska, in 1984, and lead the organization until her retirement in 2014. Under her leadership, the Institute grew into a multi-faceted organization recognized around the country for its literary arts programs connected to community resilience. Carolyn is also the author of the memoir Of Landscape and Longing: Finding a Home at the Water's Edge and Sitka: A Home in the Wild with photographer Dan Evans.
Jen-Osha Buysse
Alum 2003Jen-Osha Buysse, PhD, is the Director of Mountain SOL School, which she opened in June 2014. She also is a co-founder of Aurora Lights and served as its President from 1998 to 2012. She has taught at the university level since 2003 at Salem International and West Virginia University, and has brought two groups of college students to the Ecuadorian highlands and amazon.
Mary O'Connell
Alum 2003Mary O'Connell is an award-winning communications professional and consultant, serving principally nonprofit and foundation clients. Mary O'Connell is an award-winning communications professional and consultant, serving principally nonprofit and foundation clients. From 1996—2008, she directed communications for the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, overseeing its publications, website, media relations and public positioning as a policy-oriented Midwest foundation. Mary has won several journalism and communications awards, including the Wilmer Shields Rich Award from the Council on Foundations and the Peter A. Lisagor Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Michael Nelson
Alum 2003Michael Paul Nelson, Ph.D is an environmental scholar, writer, teacher, speaker, consultant and professor of environmental ethics and philosophy. He currently holds the Ruth H. Spaniol Endowed Chair of Renewable Resources, and serves as the Lead-Principal Investigator for the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program at Oregon State University. Michael is called upon regularly by various government agencies and conservation organizations to assist with understanding the ethical implications of natural resource management decisions.
Frank Marquardt
Alum 2003Frank Marquardt is a content strategist and writer based in Oakland. He was editorial consultant and the Northern California Director of the Overton Hayward Group, and has written for Kitchen Sink magazine and contributed to The Natural Step’s Re-Shaping Business Through Nature, Genius, and Compassion. He most recently worked as a content strategist at Facebook, working on design and advertising.
Betsy Leondar-Wright
Alum 2003Betsy Leondar-Wright, PhD, is an economic justice activist, author, and associate professor of sociology at Lasell University. For nine years she was the Communications Director at United for a Fair Economy, and she co-authored UFE's new book The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide. She was also the Project Director and Senior Trainer at Class Action, a non-profit that raises consciousness about class and money.
Matthew Lasar
Alum 2003Matthew Lasar teaches United States history and politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is also a frequent contributor to Wired and Ars Technica. He is author of Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network, which chronicles the history of the Pacifica radio stations up to the late 1960s. He received the UCSC Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016.
Leslie Jonath
Alum 2003Leslie Jonath is an editor, writer, and founder of Connected Dots Media. She was previously creative director at Chronicle Books, where she produced many successful titles, leveraging partnerships with high-profile causes and foundations. She was also Executive Producer for Feed Your People, a Kickstarter funded book project aimed at encouraging community gathering through big batch cooking.
Arjun Heimsath
Alum 2003Arjun Heimsath is professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He is also Senior Sustainability Scientist at Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU. His current research involves building a field-based, mechanistic, and quantitative understanding of landscape processes and evolution that can be applied to fundamental problems facing scientific as well as non-scientific communities. Arjun has been a fellow at the Geological Society of America, a Blaustein visiting professor at Stanford University and was also awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for soil erosion and sustainability.
Ed Grumbine
Alum 2003Ed Grumbine is a visiting senior international scientist at Kunming Institute of Botany’s Centre for Mountain Ecosystem Studies, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He directed the Sierra Institute undergraduate wilderness field studies program at University of Santa Cruz Extension for 20 years, and served as acting chair for the Environmental Studies Master of Arts Program at Prescott College from 2009 to 2010.
Lora Jo Foo
Alum 2003Lora Jo Foo is a labor organizer and attorney specializing in labor law, and the author of Asian American Women: Issues, Concerns, and Responsive Human and Civil Rights Advocacy. She represented Asian American immigrant workers in sweatshop industries for 8 years, and co-founded the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum. She is also a co-founder of the California-based Sweatshop Watch and served as its Board President from 1995 to 2004.