As the Director of the Center for Conservation, my role is to support regional conservation through collaborative practice, encouraging practical conservation action in our local communities, and helping people of all ages develop an ethic of conservation. Our local land management work focuses on the restoration of native habitats, particularly prairies, grasslands, and eastern deciduous forests. This work is expanded off site through our Restorative Landscapes initiative, where we help homeowners return turf and old old fields to valuable pollinator habitat.From a broader perspective, I consider my role to be setting the conservation priorities for the organization, helping my colleagues identify innovative and effective ways to engage our community in those priorities, and serving as the public conservation personality for Cincinnati Nature Center.

I was the Academic Program Director of two academic offices at the University of Cincinnati: (1) The Office of UC Forward and (2) The Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly Endeavors, & Creative Practice (URSC).UC Forward brings together faculty, students, and external partners from diverse backgrounds to solve real-world problems. These problems may include service or community-oriented issues, industry or business challenges, or more philosophical or creative questions. Regardless of the challenge, these problems require the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working across traditional disciplinary lines drawn in modern universities, businesses, and governments. UC Forward blurs these lines by funding and helping coordinate cross-college, transdisciplinary courses and faculty clusters (called "Collaboratives") and by fostering mutually beneficial relationships between our faculty, students, and external community partners. The Office of URSC helps undergraduates gain valuable professional experiences through research and other professional-level scholarly pursuits. URSC provides introductory workshops for new undergraduate researchers as well as a peer-mentoring program that further empowers undergraduates to be active participants in their fields. As the Director for these offices, my responsibilities include:• Cultivation & engagement of external partners• Development of internal mechanisms that support faculty collaboration• Strategic planning & Organizational structuring• Curriculum development & academic certificate administration• Program & course assessment• Grant writing• Professional development of faculty & studentsAs an Academic Program Director, I report directly to the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Affairs. Both UC Forward and URSC are housed in the Division of Professional Practice and Experiential Learning (ProPEL), the same academic division responsible for the University's top-ranked Cooperative Education program.

My role was to lead the day to day management and development of the Advanced Inquiry Program, a Master's Degree program offered through Miami University of Ohio. The work entailed helping teachers develop research & inquiry skills including experimental design, data collection & analysis, and scientific writing & presentation. I also led School Programs, which included field trips, outreach, and management of a $250k+ scholarship program. Our focus was providing standards-based and participatory activities at the zoo for school groups, as well as the development of off-site outreach programs. While at the Zoo, I was also fortunate enough to co-develop the TRIBE teen volunteer program. TRIBE, or Teen Recruits Inspiring By Example, focused on helping teens develop critical leadership skills as well as helping them develop conservation-specific knowledge and skills such as public speaking & presentation, animal care & handling, and peer management.General core skills required for success included curriculum development, student advising, program assessment, cross-sector networking, course instruction, strategic planning, outreach management, and engagement of volunteer educators.

My work focused on the restoration of Longleaf pine savannas, particularly how past land use can affect the restoration trajectory of today's savannas. Core skills required included data collection & analysis (SAS, R), experimental design, GIS (Arc suite), coordination of university research on active military base, networking, coordination of research across multiple states, plant taxonomy, initiation of research program, and supervision of field assistant.