Instructors

Alternative Agriculture and Ecological Harvest Instructor
The instructor has founded two Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in a Southwestern Ohio, which together feed over fifty families. The Instructor has more than ten years of alternative agricultural experience using a wide range of farming practices. The Instructor has toured the nation, visiting and studying over one hundred and fifty farms, has certification in Permaculture Design, and holds local workshops to introduce sustainable gardening practices to the public. He is currently working on a book to reach a wider audience.

Alternative Building Instructor
The Instructor has been participating in alternative building since the mid-nineties. He has constructed three straw bale homes, and several other small construction projects using green practices.

Cuba Documentary and Planning for a Post-oil World Instructor
The Instructor is the Outreach Director of Community Solution, a non-profit organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which educates about the coming challenges of peak oil and climate change, offers strategies for reducing energy use in the household sector areas of food, housing, and transportation, and promotes a return to small, local community living. The Instructor has been writing and speaking on Peak Oil and community-based solutions for more than six years. She helped to organize and served as master of ceremonies for five U.S. Conferences on Peak Oil and Community Solutions. The Instructor’s articles on peak oil have appeared in Communities magazine, Permaculture Activist, Vermont Commons, Kindred, WellBeing, and Friends Journal. The Instructor co-wrote and co-produced her organization's award-winning documentary, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006). The Instructor graduated with a degree in Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she studied Peak Oil and its implications for U.S. Foreign Policy. She has also studied in Europe at Miami’s campus in Luxembourg and at the University of Havana in Cuba.

Ecological Business Instructor
The Instructor has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in Biology and a M.S. in Environmental Studies from Ohio University. The Instructor currently operates Smaller Footprint, a small farm that runs a Community Supported Agriculture program. In addition to operating the farm, the Instructor makes and sells several products from recycled materials, including invasive plant species. The Instructor strives to operate his business in an environmentally friendly way by reducing his ecological footprint.

Ecological Footprint, Stream Ecology, and Global Sustainability Focus Topic Instructor
The Instructor is the Watershed Coordinator for the Miami Conservancy District, with a M.A. from The Ohio State University and PhD from Antioch University Seattle in progress. The instructor is responsible for developing new programs that protect water resources in the Great Miami River Watershed. These programs utilize diverse partnerships and include watershed planning and organizational development, ecosystem trading, land preservation and restoration, river recreation promotion, water quality monitoring, and innovative green building techniques.

Environmental Education Instructor and EE Focus Topic Instructor
The Instructor is the Assistant Director at the Outdoor Education Center since October 2006. The Instructor has a B.A. from the University of San Diego in Marine Science, and a M.A. from the University of New Mexico in Recreation – Outdoor Environmental Education. She 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.

Environmental Leadership and Population Connection Instructor
The Instructor is the Executive Director of Nature Preserve, with a B.A. from Oberlin College, and a M.G.A. from University of Maryland in Non-Profit Management. The Instructor received his naturalist training from the 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.

Environmental Policy/ Activism Instructor
The Instructor is the author of three books: Arctic Quest: Odyssey Through a Threatened Wilderness Area, Arctic Melting: How Climate Change is Destroying One of the World’s Largest Wilderness Areas and Against All Odds: The Struggle to Save the Ridges, and producer of the film Caribou People. The Instructor has been speaking publicly for more than 15 years. In 1993, he was on a 5-week speaking tour throughout Japan. In 2000, Kister was a Greenpeace delegate to the UN conference on Climate Change in The Hague, Netherlands. The Instructor led an effort to protect the last .004 percent of Old Growth Forest in Ohio, Dysart Woods, from destruction by coal mining as coordinator of Dysart Defenders from 1998 to 2007. For the last 8 years, the instructor has toured the United States and Canada, giving more than a thousands multi-media presentations to groups from 20 people to more than a thousand, traveling mostly by fuel efficient train.

Environmental Problem Solving and Forest Community Ecology Instructor
The Instructor is Outdoor Education Center Director and Institute Director, with a B.A. in Communication and M. En. in Environmental Science from 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 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

Environmental Restoration, Environmental Studies, Environmental Thought, and Eco-art Instructor
The Instructor is an Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Environmental Studies at the Institute. Here She has an M.S. and M.A. from the University of Idaho, and her PhD and MFA from 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 also presents and publishes in the fields of environmental philosophy and ecological restoration, and has published several articles that explore the relationships between ecological feminism, environmentalism, and ecological restoration. Before joining the faculty at the institute, 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.

Global Ecology and Public Policy Instructors
The first Instructor is currently an Assistant Professor and Director of Education Partnerships Development in the School of Education at Antioch University McGregor. The first Instructor is also an Adjunct in the ILPS and Undergraduate Studies programs where he has taught Global Ecology and Public Policy and Non-violent Resistance. In years prior to this, he has had a rich and complex background in education, community mental health, and even in some entrepreneurial experiences outside of Academia. The second Instructor holds an M.A. in Special Education and Art Therapy and is an Adjunct Professor at Antioch University McGregor. The second Instructor is also a full time teacher of the Program for the Gifted Students for Xenia Community Schools at Xenia Middle School.

Land Management/ Habitat Restoration Instructor
The Instructor is the Land Manager for the Nature Preserve. Having attended the institute and having grown up in the area, the Land Management Instructor has been learning first-hand about trees as well as the general ecology of the nature preserve for decades. In addition to performing trail maintenance, and carrying out restoration efforts for the 1,000-acre preserve, the instructor also serves as a monitor of land easements for a local land trust.

Landforms and Hydrology Instructor
The Instructor is a retired Professor of Environmental Science and Geology at Anticoh College. The Instructor holds a B. A. from Williams College and an M.S. from the 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. 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. The Instructor challenges students to integrate material from the entire science curriculum to analyze and solve complex environmental and geologic problems.

Nature Journaling Instructor
This Instructor is owner of Prairie Pond Woods, 27-acres of “wild elegance” in Adams County Ohio. From there she leads spiritual/nature group retreats through her business, Heart By Nature Retreats, Inc. Prior to this adventure, the Instructor worked at IHE’s nature preserve, as both the Museum Manager and Volunteer Coordinator, leading nature programs, hikes, creating a regular lecture series, and developing a group of volunteer naturalists. The instructor received a Bachelor of Specialized Studies in Natural History from Ohio University in 2004, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1981. She did her naturalist internship at Aullwood Audubon Center & Farm in Englewood, Ohio. The instructor was selected by Ohio University as recipient of The Special Project Fund to attend a four-day Nature Journaling training in The Berkshires, taught by artist Claire Leslie-Walker and nature writer, Robert Michael Pyle. The Instructor also worked as an interior designer, as well as owned Art By Nature Framing Studio, a wildlife gallery and custom-framing studio, for six years in Bellbrook, Ohio.

Sense of Place Slideshow & Sense of Place Photography Instructor
The Instructor has an M.F.A. from the University of Cincinnati. The instructor has been teaching photography at the IHE 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.

Wildlife Natural Heritage Instructor
The Instructor has a B.A. from Wright State University, and an M.S. from Ohio University. The Instructor has been working as a wildlife biologist for 29 years for the ODNR, 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.

Wildlife Ecology and Rehabilitation, and Working with Wildlife Focus Topic Instructor
The Instructor has been the Director of the raptor rehabilitation center since 1987. The Instructor holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University with teaching credentials for the elementary level. The Instructor develops and presents the education programs for the raptor center for all ages, both on-site at the 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 courses 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 courses concerning education and raptors.