My work in higher education reflects my commitment to conservation, my interest in complex socio-environmental problems, and my love of the natural world. As a professor at a small liberal arts college, I teach courses that draw on my scientific expertise as well as my knowledge of and experience with public policy, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem-solving. Teaching is the perfect profession for exploring new ideas and finding novel connections across diverse perspectives and sources of empirical knowledge, theory, and wisdom based in the sciences, humanities, and arts.My classes emphasize engagement with real-world contemporary problems and experiential learning through direct observation, interrogation of existing knowledge, critical analysis, and interdisciplinary synthesis. Course subjects include conservation biology, climate change, environmental conflict resolution, wildlife management, avian biology, field ornithology, and broader surveys of socio-environmental issues. As an example of how I seek to cultivate deep engagement with challenging material, I recently collaborated with an artist-in-residence to help students develop non-fiction narrative photo essays documenting and describing the ways their daily lives intersect with the causes and consequences of climate change.Currently I am pursuing a number of projects focused on fostering place-based ecoliteracy and connection with nature. These include developing an outdoors leadership program designed to engage and train a diverse student population, coordinating an academic minor in field-based natural history, and training students in field ecology research techniques. I am actively developing a second area of professional expertise encompassing conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving, and decision analysis. Both paths provide me opportunities to contribute to resilience and sustainability while feeding my love of nature and fascination with complex problems.