Speakers

Keynote Speaker

College and University President and Chancellor Bios

Speaker Bios

 

Kurt Adams was appointed to serve as Chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission in June of 2005. From 2003 until his appointment, Chairman Adams served as Chief Legal Counsel to Governor John E. Baldacci. He was a lawyer in the law firm of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson from 1997 to 2003. Chairman Adams received his Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law in 1997. He also received an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University in 1990 and a B.A. in Government from Skidmore College in 1988. Chairman Adams' term expires in March 2011. back to list

Headshot of Nancy ArtzNancy Artz, the moderator of the President's Panel, is a Professor in the University of Southern Maine's School of Business. She holds a Ph.D.in Marketing from Northwestern University. Before entering a doctoral program, Professor Artz worked at the John Morton Company in Chicago as a marketing consultant for Fortune 500 or equivalent firms. She has been active with the Margaret Chase Smith Quality Award as an examiner/judge for the award. She has also received a grant from NIST to study quality awards in Maine. Professor Artz has published in Global Competitiveness, Marketing Letters, Maine Business Indicators, Advances in Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Annual Review of Psychology, and the Arthur Andersen & Co. Business Ethics Program Minicase Collection. She is the author/editor of the book 301 Great Custom er Services Ideas, published by Inc.,1997. back to list

Richard Barringer is Research Professor in USM's Muskie School of Public Service where he is a member both the public policy & management and community planning & development faculties, and principal investigator for the U.S. EPA's New England Environmental Finance Center. He served in the administrations of three Maine governors as commissioner of conservation and director of state planning, and is the author or editor of numerous books, reports, and landmark Maine laws in the areas of land use, education, the environment, energy, economic development, and tax policy. He helped organize and chair two recent Governor's Blaine House Conferences, one on Maine's Natural Resource-based Industries, the other on Maine's Creative Economy, the results of which are available on the State of Maine website, www.state.me.us . Most recently he has served as member of the Governor' s Working Group on Structure, Management, and Oversight of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and as chair of the Governor's Council on Maine's Quality of Place, to oversee implementation of the recommendations of the recent Brookings Institution report on Maine. His recent publications include the edited volume, Changing Maine, 1960-2010 (Tilbury House, Gardiner, 2004); and, as co-author, The Creative Economy in Maine: Measurement and Analysis, Southern Maine Review (USM, February 2005). He is the father of four grown sons and lives in Portland with his wife, Martha Freeman. back to list

Headshot of Marian BrownMarian Brown, special assistant to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, provides primary College staff support for the pursuit of the range of campus-wide sustainability activities, including developing academic-operational project opportunities, promoting sustainability education events, and on-going documentation of the progress of the sustainability initiative. Brown serves as academic liaison to various campus sustainability-related groups, including the Natural Lands Committee, the Resource and Environmental Management program steering committee, the Center for Natural Sciences Sustainability Group, Sustainable Transportation committee, and the Sustainability task team of the Planning and Priorities Committee. Brown serves as Ithaca College liaison to a number of external organizations dedicated to fostering regional sustainable development, including Sustainable Tompkins, Ithaca Carshare, Finger Lakes Buy Green, Tompkins Renewable Energy Education Alliance, and the City of Ithaca Mayor's Local Action Plan implementation team to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Brown also provides logistical support for the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, one of only seven such content-specificfilm festivals in North America. back to list

Headshot of Jack ByrneJack Byrne is currently the Campus Sustainability Coordinator at Middlebury College where he works with faculty, staff and students to fulfill the college's mission of environmental stewardship and mindfulnees for the long run. He is a co-founder of the Foundation for Our Future at the Center for a Sustainable Future and served as its Vice-President from 1997 to 2005. He many years of experience growing and managing non-profit organizations; designing and facilitating professional development programs for government officials, corporate managers and executives, educators and training programs for laypeople on environmental and sustainability issues. Jack has a master's degree in environmental law from Vermont Law School and a bachelor of science degree in biology from Kent State University. He has authored numerous books and articles o n education for a sustainable future, enviornmental conservation, scenario planning, online learning and citizen centered watershed monitoring and protection. back to list

Rick Clugston is executive director of ULSF and the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE), and publisher and editor of Earth Ethics. CRLE focuses on the following program areas: the Greening of Academia, Religion and Ecology, the Earth Charter Initiative, and Sustainable Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities."

Prior to going to Washington, Dr. Clugston worked for the University of Minnesota for 11 years, first as a faculty member in the College of Human Ecology, and later as a strategic planner in Academic Affairs, Continuing Education and the Office of the President. He was a consultant to the State Department of Education, the Minnesota Business Partnership, and various colleges and school systems on educational improvement. Dr. Clugston has taught and published on human development, strategic planning, educational reform, and most recently on environmental ethics, spirituality and sustainability.

He received his doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Minnesota (1987), and his masters in Human Development from the University of Chicago (1977). As an undergraduate psychology and biochemistry major at the University of Minnesota (1975), he received the Mayo Foundation Scholarship for Medicine and Medicine Related Fields. His doctoral thesis was selected as dissertation of the year by the American Association of University Administrators.back to list

William (Bill) Colehower LEED-AP, has recently joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Senior Program Development Manager in the Institute's Campus Planning and Design Department.  Prior to joining MIT, Bill was the Associate Director of University Planning at Yale University.   For nearly twenty years, he has lead campus planning initiatives on over thirty campuses, large and small,  throughout the United States and South America including Ohio State University, University of Florida, University of Denver, Marquette University, Johns Hopkins University, Oberlin College, Lawrence University, Xavier University, Washington and Lee, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.  Bill has been an active presenter with the Society for College and University Planning, the American Planning Association and the Association of College and Univer sity Housing Officers.

Throughout his career, Bill has maintained an energetic focus on the environment and advancement of planning strategies to mitigate impacts of campus development on natural systems.  His planning approach is based on development of a holistic assessment of the natural systems on the campus and designing a set of guiding principles that will shape facilities planning decisions to mitigate or eliminate environmental impacts. Bill holds a masters degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina and a bachelors degree in Geography and Environmental Studies from Ohio Wesleyan University. back to list

KR (Deac) Decarreau portraitKR (Deac) Decarreau is Director of Transportation and Parking Services at the University of Vermont . Deac also serves as the staff co-chair of the Environmental Council at UVM, is active in the New England Parking Council Board of Directors, and serves as Operations Committees chair of the Campus Area Transportation Management Association.. Prior to moving back into Parking, and who can stay away for long, Deac spent ten years in training and quality improvement in the healthcare industry. Deac is committed to reducing the impact of parking and traffic on campus and in the neighborhoods bordering campus. Demand reduction strategies, as well as traffic mitigation, have become a significant part of planning any new facility at the University, where local municipalities demand measurable results. ba ck to list

John DiModica is an Account Executive focused on delivering energy solutions projects to higher education institutions throughout New England . His company, Johnson Controls develops energy efficiency projects for their customers by upgrading & improving existing infrastructure, developing site-specific renewable energy projects, and managing supply-side resources and opportunities such as demand response and commodity bidding. John has been with Johnson Controls for one year.

Prior to his work with Johnson Controls, John was the manager of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts efforts in energy efficiency and sustainable design from his position in the state's construction agency, DCAM. While at DCAM, John established the Commonwealth's sustainable design policies for most state-owned building construction projects, oversaw the state's energy efficiency performance contracting program - managing approximately $30 million per year in energy savings projects, project managed the state's first wind turbine installation at Mass Maritime Academy, and was instrumental in the state's first green building project, a LEED-certified project at the Cape Cod Community College. John has worked in the energy field for seventeen years.

John is a LEED Accredited Professional and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. back to list

Millard Dority, College of the Atlantic back to list

Christina Erickson is the Eco-Reps Program Coordinator at the
University of Vermont and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Education for
Sustainability.  Christina was formerly the Sustainability Coordinator
at Sterling College, where she also taught courses in outdoor and
environmental education.  Christina is a graduate of the Audubon
Expedition Institute at Lesley University's Ecological Teaching &
Learning masters program, which focuses on place-based, ecological
education and has a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Sociology from
St. Lawrence University.

Bob FerrettiBob Ferretti joined Yale University's Office of Sustainability as the Outreach and Education Manager in January 2007. In this role, Bob is developing and overseeing new mechanisms for engaging students, faculty, and staff in campus sustainability efforts. He is the director of the Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnerships (STEP). Previous to joining Yale OS, Bob owned and operated a green construction and restoration business in Portsmouth, NH and on Cape Cod, MA . Bob gained experience conducting outreach while working with the New Hampshire Coastal Program, Clean Water Action, and the Sierra Club of Utah. He first became interested in campus sustainability while interning as a Research Assistant at the Office of Sustainability Programs while working towards a B.Sci degree in Environmental Conservation at the University of New Ham pshire. back to list

Timothy Galarneau serves as the UC Santa Cruz Coordinator for the Food Systems Working Group and statewide advisor to the California Student Sustainability Coalition Food Systems initiative which is developing sustainable food service guidelines for the University of California and organizing students across CA higher education.  In addition, Mr. Galarneau has served as a guest speaker focusing on sustainable food systems in higher education in several conference settings, including: the Pacific Northwest Regional & National Conferences for the National Association of College and University Food Services, the annual University of California & California State Univerisity Statewide Sustainability Conference, the 2006 Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education National Conference, the Florida Gulf Coast University Terry Tempest Williams Student Dialogue, and the Ecological Far ming Association's Annual Conference.  Mr. Galarneau also works as a researcher on farm to institution and community food systems for the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) and instructs a sustainable food systems seminar and action research team at UCSC.  Tim began working on food and farming related initiatives as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, co-chairing the Student Environmental Center and spearheading a campaign to raise awareness and increase the presence of sustainably produced options in food services and furthermore building the capacity of campus stakeholders to come together and set measurable and achievable goals for incorporating sustainable procurement into campus dining services. Following co-founding UCSC's Food Systems Working Group Mr. Galarneau works with other campuses on sharing best practices and building clear frameworks to incorporate students, food service related staff, and faculty into successful projects g e ared toward creating sustainable campus food systems.   From community food policy involvement to elevating the potential for farm to institution within higher education, Mr. Galarneau is a passionate advocate and resource for food based transformation.back to list

Photo of Andrew GriffithsAndrew Griffiths currently serves as the Administrative Dean for the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME. For nearly 25 years prior to this, Andy was the Treasurer and VP for Finance and Administration at the WGBH Educational Foundation. He has also worked for the US EPA, worked as a management consultant, lectured at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, at Babson College in their graduate courses on Non-profit Management, and Brown University in Social Entrepreneurship. He has served on the board of several non-profits.

Andy will be speaking at this conference about his involvement with the Cambridge Energy Alliance. He holds a BS from Brown University in electrical engineering and an MS in digital communications from Northeastern University. back to list

Headshot of Mary JensenMary Jensen, Keene State College, Keene, NH is currently the Coordinator of Campus Sustainability and Recycling programs, chairperson for the Presidents Council for a Sustainable Future, Chair of the National Recycling Coalition’s College and University Recycling Council, Member of the Northeast Coalition of Sustainable Campuses Steering Committee and advisor to the Campus Ecology student organization at KSC. This state college has a residential population of just under 2600 and an overall student population of about 5000. In addition, Mary coordinates the Integrated Waste Management programs at mid-sized music festivals on the East Coast. In her spare time she plays bocce, gardens and is a stage manager at a local theater.back to list

Photo of Theodora J. KalikowTheodora J. Kalikow has been president of the University of Maine at Farmington since 1994 and is a guiding force in Maine's educational and civic life. Under her leadership, UMF has received top regional rankings in U.S.News & World Report for ten consecutive years and has been recognized as one of 20 model universities committed to maximizing student potential in “Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter,” published by the American Association for Higher Education.

She is a member of the board of directors of the Finance Authority of Maine and chairs the University of Maine System's diversity committee. She is a former board member and chair of the Western Mountains Alliance and has also served on the boards of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, the American Council on Education's Commission on Women and the Maine Humanities Council.

Kalikow's active leadership and deep commitment to education have been recognized by many organizations in Maine and beyond. In 2000, she received the University of Maine's Maryann Hartman Award from the Women's Studies program, which annually recognizes four Maine women of achievement whose accomplishments provide inspiration for other women. In 2001, Kalikow was inducted to the Maine Women's Hall of Fame. Nominated by the Waterville branch of the American Association of University Women and supported by women across the state, Kalikow was honored for the statewide impact of her achievements, her effect on improving the lives of women in Maine and the enduring value of her contributions to women. In 2006, Kalikow received the prestigious Deborah Morton Award which is presented each year by the trustees of the University of New England to recognize outstanding women who have achieved high distinction in their careers and public service or whose leadership in civic, cultural o r social causes has been exceptional.

UMF's leadership in environmental stewardship is evidenced by Kalikow's adherence to the sustainable campus movement and her recent signing of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, which pledges to fight global warming. In 2007, Kalikow was awarded a Green Building Leadership Award from the Maine Chapter of the United States Green Building Council for her pioneering role in advancing environmentally responsible buildings in Maine.

Originally from Swampscott , MA, Kalikow earned her doctorate in philosophy from Boston University in 1974, her master's in philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970 and her bachelor's in chemistry from Wellesley College in 1962. back to list

Photo of Tom KellyTom Kelly, Ph.D., is the first director of the University Office of Sustainability (OS) and Chief Sustainability Officer at the University of New Hampshire, where he collaborates with faculty, staff, students and others in the development of teaching, research, policy and outreach activities related to the UOS's four educational initiatives in biodiversity, ecosystems, and public health; climate and energy; culture and sustainability; and food, agriculture, and nutrition. He has been working in the field of higher education and sustainable development for more than fifteen years in the US as well as in Colombia and Brazil. Current activities include serving on the planning and program committee for the UNH Master's of Public Health Program and teaching in the MPH option in Public Health Ecology. He was a co-principal investigator on the INHALE project, a NOAA-funded research effort by the UNH Climate Change Research Center in collaboration with the UNH School of Health and Human Services to investigate the effects of climate variability, air quality, and weather on human health in New England. Dr. Kelly also serves on the steering committees for the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and the advisory com m ittee for the Community, Food and Agriculture Program at Cornell University and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). He is working with colleagues in the UNH College of Life Science and Agriculture on the New England Organic Dairy project at UNH as well as the New Hampshire Center for a Food Secure Future. He is also a founding member of the Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium working to coordinate activities in New England for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Dr. Kelly was a visiting scholar at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California/San Diego and a visiting professor of transboundary environmental issues i n the U.S.-Mexican borderlands at El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico DF. In addition to an undergraduate and master's degree in musical composition and conducting, he holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is married to Sharon Baker, aka "Diva Weeva," an award winning soprano and weaver who teaches voice at UNH. They have three wonderful children: Em (21), Madeline (18), and Dylan (14). When not in his office or at home, he can be found swimming, running, hiking, or doing triatholons with a great bunch of UNH colleagues or laboring in his pottery studio.back to list

Photo of Tom KimmererTom Kimmerer is the Executive Director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Tom has a B.S. in Forest Biology from Syracuse and a PhD in Forestry and Botany from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a professor at the University of Kentucky for 18 years and taught forestry, natural resource management and plant physiology. His research interest is in the physiology and biochemistry of trees and responses of trees to environmental change. Tom was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Universiti Pertanian Malaysia and has worked on sustainable forestry and agriculture in Malaysia and Indonesia. Prior to joining AASHE, Tom headed a technology firm and was a consultant in sustainable land management. Tom is an avid hiker, photographer and violinist. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife Stacey, a veterinarian, and their children.

Joe Klaus has 35 years food service experience 25 of them with Sodexho USA where he is part of a team developing a substantiality program for our company.  Joe has been at Colby College as the Dining Services Operations manager for the past 11 years and have worked with the College to develop a green dining program which includes composting 100% of all food waste, purchasing 20% of our Food from Maine companies, removing all paper items except napkins from the dining halls and having the used fryer oil recycled into bio-diesel. Having grown up in a rural farming community, he holds strong convictions about helping to create and educate towards a more sustainable future. back to list

Photo of Mary Lou KennedyMary McAteer (Mary Lou) Kennedy, R.D., M.A. is the Director of Dining and Bookstore Services at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine where she has worked for the past 20 years. She is a registered dietician and worked in the healthcare field before moving to college dining services. Mary Lou was the recipient of the 2004 Bowdoin Alumni Council Award for Faculty and Staff in recognition of her commitment to the college.

Bowdoin is consistently listed as one of the top college dining programs in the annual Princeton Review survey. In 2007, Bowdoin Dining Service was awarded the Restaurants and Institution Magazine's “Ivy Award” for excellence for their strong emphasis on food quality, environmentalism and locally sourced foods. Bowdoin Dining Service also received an “A” on the most recent Sustainable Endowments Institute report card. With an 8 million dollar budget, Bowdoin College Dining Service employs approximately 250 full, part-time and student employees, and includes two board operations, three cash operations, catering and vending services. back to list

Photo of Bill LeahyBill Leahy is the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU).  He holds a BS and MS in Industrial Technology from Central Connecticut State University and a MS in Business from Rensselaer.

He has twenty-eight years of experience in the energy management field including responsibilities for the design and management for award winning efficiency programs at Northeast Utilities Service Company (NU). He was also a member of the management team for Select Energy, the unregulated power broker and energy management services subsidiary of NU.

In 2002, Bill was appointed to the Institute for Sustainable Energy at ECSU.   ECSU is a signer of the Talloires Declaration and the President's Climate Challenge.  The Institute's mission is to identify and develop energy and educational resource regarding the means for achieving a sustainable energy future. The Institute manages the Green Campus Initiative of the Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan. Institute received the 2004 National Energy Star Partnership Award for Community Leadership in Energy Efficiency from the US DOE and EPA as well as regional merit awards from the Northeast EPA in 2005 and 2006. back to list

Photo of Fred Loxsom with a dogFred Loxsom is the Endowed Chair in Sustainable Energy Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut. He has a BA in physics from Bowdoin College and a PhD in physics from Dartmouth College. Before joining the faculty at Eastern Connecticut State University, Dr. Loxsom was a tenured professor of physics, department chair, and an Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Trinity University. With over 50 publications, Dr. Loxsom's research activities have centered on atmospheric physics and renewable energy. He has been actively involved with local and national environmental and educational groups. He has taught courses on sustainable development in Costa Rica and participated in atmospheric research in Mexico City. At Eastern Connecticut State University, Professor Loxsom has guided the de velopment of an undergraduate program in Sustainable Energy Studies.back to list

Headshot of Rich MillerRich Miller, Director of Environmental Policy, Office of the Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, University of Connecticut. Rich develops policies and coordinates initiatives for reducing UConn's ecological footprint, protecting natural resources, and ensuring green building and low-impact design.  He works on sustainability issues ranging from climate change to recycling, water conservation and environmental literacy, and oversees the University's compliance with land use, water, air and other environmental requirements.

Rich has been a practicing environmental and land use attorney, an environmental and energy lobbyist for a statewide association, an adjunct professor of environmental law, and a corporate environmental manager at a Fortune 500 company.  He has served on numerous legislative and regulatory advisory committees, including five years as a member of the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality.  He is a long-time member and current chair of the Simsbury Inland Wetlands & Conservation Commission.

He received his B.A. from Penn State University and J.D. from Stetson University College of Law. back to list

President Barry MillsBarry Mills was inaugurated as Bowdoin's 14th president in October 2001 as the College was beginning its 200th academic year.

During his tenure as president, Mills has underscored the primacy of Bowdoin's academic program and has worked with the faculty to redefine a liberal arts education for the twenty-first century. Together with Dean for Academic Affairs Craig McEwen, Mills led the first major curriculum reform at Bowdoin since the early 1980s and has successfully recommitted the College to the goal of expanding ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity among students and employees. During this period, the percentage of students of color in the first-year class climbed from 14 percent to nearly 30 percent. Mills has worked to increase national visibility for Bowdoin and also initiated a comprehensive campus master planning study in the fall of 2002 in order to guide future development on the campus. He has worked to strengthen and increase support for the arts at the College, moving forward on a long-planned renovation of the Walker Art Building, which houses the Bowdoin College Muse um of Art, and a conversion of the Curtis Pool building into a 300-seat recital hall. Student residential life has also been improved through the construction of new residence halls and the renovation of existing residential facilities. Mills has also emphasized sustainability efforts at the College and the need to build Bowdoin's endowment in support of the academic program and student financial aid.

President Mills, who holds a doctorate in biology as well as a law degree, previously served as the deputy presiding partner of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, one of the nation's preeminent international law firms. He joined the firm in 1979 and became a partner in 1986. His work at Debevoise concentrated on corporate law, real estate and corporate finance.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, President Mills graduated in 1968 from Pilgrim High School in Warwick, Rhode Island. A Dean's List student at Bowdoin, Mills graduated cum laude in 1972 with a double major in biochemistry and government. He earned his doctorate in biology in 1976 at Syracuse University. He earned his law degree at the Columbia University School of Law in 1979, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He currently serves on the board of directors of Lexicon Genetics Incorporated; Maine Bank & Trust Co., a Maine bank subsidiary of Chittenden Bank; and Galileo Fund Management Limited, as well as several philanthropic boards.  

President Mills is married to Karen Gordon Mills, a founder and managing director of Solera Capital, LLC, a private equity firm located in New York City. She graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe in 1975 with a degree in economics and earned her MBA at the Harvard Business School in 1977. She is currently a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers. President and Karen Mills have three sons.

Barry Mills was a member of the Bowdoin College Board of Trustees from 1994 until 2000. He follows Samuel Harris (1867-71), Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1871-83), Kenneth C.M. Sills (1918-52), and Roger Howell, Jr. (1969-78) as the fifth alumnus of the College to serve as president. back to list

Headshot of Suzanne MorseSuzanne Morse received a BA in Botany from the University of California, Berkeley in 1980 and a PhD in Botany from the University of California,
Berkeley in 1988. From 1988 to 1991, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She also was a visiting scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health from 1996-1998, and at the University of California, Berkeley in 2001.  Suzanne joined the COA faculty in 1991, where she teaches a variety of courses in biology, botany, science and society,
agroecology and food systems. She also regularly teaches a winter course on sustainable agriculture in the Yucatan.back to list

Photo of University of Maine System Chancellor Richard PattenaudeChancellor Richard Pattenaude, University of Maine System. Richard L. Pattenaude became chancellor of the University of Maine System in July 2007, after serving for sixteen years as president of the University of Southern Maine.


Prior to that, he served for five years as vice president for academic affairs at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain and another five years as associate vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Before moving to New York, President Pattenaude was a member of the political science faculty and an associate dean for six years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

A native of Seattle, Wash., he earned his bachelor's degree with honors in economics at California's San Jose State University and his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Colorado. His areas of expertise and publishing include American government, university leadership, public administration, and organizational theory.

He is actively involved in numerous community and business ventures. Chancellor Pattenaude serves, or has served, as a board member of the Portland Museum of Art, World Affairs Council, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Maine Science & Technology Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, Lee Auto Malls, Maine Development Foundation, United Way, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Maine Medical Center, Institute for Civic Leadership, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He recently was selected to sit on the National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education, a group sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and the Association of State Higher Education Executive Officers.

Chancellor Pattenaude and his wife, Michele, have a home in Bangor. back to list

Headshot of Keisha PaysonKeisha Payson became the first Sustainability Coordinator for Bowdoin College in 2001.  In this role she promotes campus sustainability issues ranging from solid waste reduction and energy conservation to renewable energy and green building design.    Recognizing that a college campus has a completely new student body every 4 years, Payson spends much of her time on educational outreach - promoting the college's environmental policies and efforts. Before coming to Bowdoin, Payson worked as an environmental educator and a landscaper.  She received a BA in Geography and is one research paper shy of a Masters in Community Planning and Development (but don't ask her how that paper is progressing!).  She spends much of her free time gardening and chasing after her 11 month old son and nearly 3 year o ld daughter. back to list

Christopher Recchia is the Executive Director of Biomass Energy Center. Chris was named BERC executive director in May of 2007. He has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental leader in the development of state and federal environmental policy and the implementation of programs managing air, land, and water resources. Recchia came to BERC after a four-year tenure as executive director of the Ozone Transport Commission in Washington, DC, where he directed a commission of 12 mid-Atlantic and northeastern states and the District of Columbia, coordinating air pollution reduction programs and policy. Prior to that, he served as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Recchia holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont , a master's in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School, and a master's in Natural Resource Policy and Management from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Photo of Christine SchwartzChristine Schwartz is the Director of Dining Services at Bates College where she has been for the past 11 years. Prior to moving to Maine , Christine held collegiate dining positions at Lynchburg College , in Lynchburg Virginia , Sweet Briar College , in Sweet Briar Virginia and at St Mary's Honors College in Maryland .

Bates College is the only collegiate dining services to be awarded a ReNew America Aware for its efforts in Sustainability and has been consistently recognized as a leader in this area. The operation is actively involved with MOFGA, The Green Restaurant, and works closely with NASAP and has developed partnerships with many local growers. Bates Dining has for the past six years been listed among the top 20 food services by the Princeton Review. back to list

 

Photo of Mitchell Thomashow Dr. Mitchell Thomashow is the President of Unity College in Maine, a small environmental liberal arts college whose mission entails stewardship, sustainability, and service. He is also a Distinguished Faculty Member in the Antioch New England Department of Environmental Studies, where he spent most of his career.

Academically, Thomashow is interested in developing reflective, interdisciplinary pedagogy for undergraduate and graduate programs in environmental studies. He teaches courses such as Global Environmental Change, Ecological Thought, Cultures of Natural History, and Music and Nature. As a college president, he aspires to integrate concepts of ecology, sustainability, natural history, and community service into all aspects of college and community life.

Thomashow's book, Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist (The MIT Press, 1995) offers an approach to teaching environmental education based on reflective practice—a guide to teachers, educators and concerned citizens alike that incorporates issues of citizenship, ecological identity, and civic responsibility within the framework of environmental studies. His most recent book, Bringing the Biosphere
Home (The MIT Press, 2001) is a guide for learning how to perceive global environmental change. It shows readers that through a blend of local natural history observations, global change science, the use of imagination and memory, and spiritual contemplation, you can learn how to broaden your spatial and temporal view so that it encompasses the entire biosphere. It suggests how global environmental change might become the province of countless educational initiatives—from the classroom to the Internet, from community forums to international conferences, from the backyard to the biosphere.

Currently, he is in the initial stages of two writing projects: one a book on the ecology of improvisation, linking music, play and sports, and patterns in nature, a second a series of essays exploring how an environmental studies education promotes virtue.
Thomashow is the founder of Whole Terrain, an environmental literary publication. He serves on the advisory boards of The Orion Society, the Coalition on Environmental and Jewish Life (COEJL), and the Teleosis Institute. Thomashow serves on the Executive Committee of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD), a national organization that supports interdisciplinary environmental studies in higher education.

Thomashow has spent the last thirty years living in the hill country of southwest New Hampshire, in the shadow of Mount Monadnock. Now he is exploring the fields, forests, wetlands, hills, and islands of midcoast Maine. His recreational interests include basketball, baseball, board games, jazz piano, electronic keyboards, musical composition and recording, guitar, hiking, bicycling and lake swimming. back to list

Gioia Thompson has been the Environmental Coordinator at the University of Vermont since 1996. She is responsible for tracking environmental performance; recommending environmentally responsible practices; working with students, faculty members, and staff members on environmental projects; and connecting with the Vermont and higher education communities.

Gioia works with the Environmental Council , a group of faculty, staff, students, and community members dedicated to promoting excellence in academic programs, campus operations, and environmental culture as befits a “leading Environmental University ." Her 2002 publication Tracking UVM : Environmental Report Card 1990-2000 has been hailed as a model for tracking environmental performance. Recent activities include support of the EcoReps , a residential education program; developing public information for a demonstration wind turbine and the new student commons; refining the University's g reen building and recycled paper policies; analyzing the University's greenhouse gas emissions; and participating in regional and national professional dialogue on environmental performance in higher education.

Gioia received a B.A. in Environmental Studies in 1987, and M.S. in Natural Resources in 2000 from the University of Vermont. She lives in Bristol, Vermont.back to list

Photo of Sandra WachholzSandra Wachholz received her Ph.D. from the Criminal Justice Center at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She is a member of the Criminology Department at the University of Southern Maine and teaches Criminological Inquiry, Criminology, Law and State, Criminology in Sweden, and Crimes Against the Environment. Her research focuses on barriers to justice for abused immigrant women, hate crimes against the homeless, and the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change. She complements her academic work with involvement in social justice organizations. back to list

Norman Willard is with the Energy Team at the U.S. EPA's regional office in Boston. He has worked on environmental protection, resource management and public health issues for many years at the state, regional, national and international government levels.

In more recent years, his focus has been on building awareness and response capacity on climate change and climate-related energy issues. He identifies his climate-energy “clients” as EPA itself, the states, regional groups and organizations, climate scientists and researchers, educators, communities, colleges and universities, businesses, and other stakeholder groups. He was involved early-on in the formation of the Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium. back to list

Photo of President ZillmanPresident Donald N. Zillman, University of Maine at Presque Isle, is the beneficiary of superb public higher education at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Virginia. He received his BS and JD degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He received an LLM (Master of Laws) from the University of Virginia.

Following graduation from Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Wisconsin Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif, President Zillman was a Law Clerk to the Honorable James M. Carter of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Diego), an attorney for San Diego Defenders, Inc, and a Captain (eventually Major) in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps.

President Zillman entered teaching at the Arizona State University Law School. He moved to the University of Utah Law School to assume the leadership of the School's Energy Law Center. In 1990 he accepted the invitation of the University of Maine School of Law to become the School's fourth Dean and first Edward Godfrey Professor of Law. He served as Dean until 1998. During that time he taught and wrote in his areas of expertise—energy and natural resources law, tort law, constitutional law, and military law.

He returned to full-time faculty duties in 1998 and remains a member of the Law School faculty. President Zillman served as Interim Provost and Academic Vice President at the University of Maine (Orono) in 1999-2000 and Interim President at the University of Maine at Fort Kent (2001-02). In 2006, he was named President of the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

President Zillman's scholarly achievements include lead authorship on ten books and over 50 scholarly journal articles. Among recent works are Energy Security (2004 Oxford University Press); Human Rights in Natural Resources Development (2002 Oxford University Press), and Maine Tort Law (2006 Supplement Lexis Nexis Publishers). He is presently working on Strategic Legal Writing (2007 Cambridge University Press) and Moving Beyond the Carbon Economy (2008). President Zillman has presented his research work at over 40 scholarly conferences around the United States and the world.

In addition to work with his campuses and the University of Maine System , President Zillman served on Governor Angus King's Citizen's Advisory Task Force on the Maine Yankee Nuclear Plant, was counsel to the Maine House of Representatives to resolve election contests in 2000, 2002, and 2004, and was the Chairman of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission in 2003.

President Zillman enjoys the arts, theatre, and all varieties of music. He has been an active distance runner for the last quarter century. He has completed nearly 600 road races including over 50 half marathons and 15 marathons, including Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Maine, Quebec City and Stockholm. His wife Linda is an art historian. back to list