Following a 30+ year stint with UMass Extension, I continue to seek opportunities for good work. In my time with UMass, I was fortunate to find many opportunities, including projects in all Extension program areas, a variety of initiatives across the University, and partnerships with state and federal agencies and private foundations. Some highlights:

Curriculum Development and Teaching

• High School Community Research – As part of my work for UMass Extension, I have been the Massachusetts Envirothon program’s Current Issue Station Leader since 1995, which involves annual development of resources for teams to explore a critical environmental issue as it occurs in their communities. This long-term involvement has created an opportunity for much observation and experimentation, listening to Envirothon coaches (mostly high school science teachers) and their students. Evaluation has confirmed that coaches find working with their teams with these resources to be a valuable professional development experience for themselves as well as a learning experience for their students. The samples that follow were developed for the 2019 Current Issue “Abundant, Affordable, Healthy Food”
  • Background and Strategies for Community Research
  • Current Issue Problem that teams responded to in their presentations at the competition
  • Scoresheet that judges use
  • Invitation to participate in the noncompetitive Community Awards associated with the Current Issue
  • Community Research Checklist with other Community Award forms

• Community Service Learning class – I was asked to develop and teach a course to introduce Community Service Learning to students in UMass Amherst’s Commonwealth Honors College. I taught this 4-credit fall semester class for six years (2007-2012):
  • Syllabus overview for H292s, Engaging with the Community:  An Introduction to Community Service Learning focusing on service experiences with local hunger and food security organizations and issues

• Youth Environmental Conference – With corporate gift funding to the 4-H program, and input from UMass and community colleagues, high school educators and youth, and UMass students, I developed and coordinated The Earth Connection, an “action conference” on community service and the environment for high school age youth and their advisors, UMass Amherst, 1996-2002.
  • web site (archived)
  • Earth Connection 2001 program booklet
  • Roundtables – A conference highlight – “freewheeling small group discussions around a place, a question, or an idea of your choice”

Program Evaluation 

• The Earth Connection as a Learning Experience (1999)
• 2017 Mass Envirothon Evaluation Report to Stakeholders
• Evaluations of two UMass STEM Institute National Science Foundation grants available on request:
  • Science Education Online (2005-2007)
  • Supporting STEM Teacher Learning (S2TLC, 2011-2017)

Recent Research Papers and Presentations

• Civic Engagement in Local Environmental Issues: Some Massachusetts Envirothon Program Experiences, presentation at Massachusetts DESE’s 2020 Civics Literacy Conference