About Me
I am an Associate Professor at California State University Monterey Bay, where I focus on environmental education and fostering healthy and sustainable communities, primarily through The Engagement Lab. Fundamentally, I am interested in supporting a more diverse and inclusive environmental field that celebrates and cares for people and the planet.
For more than 30 years, I have engaged children, youth and communities in participatory research and projects in both rural and urban settings, including with Indigenous communities of the Southwest, Spanish land grant communities, and newcome (recent immigrant) communities. My recent research has focused on children, nature, and environmental care in the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America. I am currently exploring research related to green schools, critical pedagogy, and how historically excluded communities develop a culture of care in relation to sustainable practices.
From 2012-2016, I was a faculty coordinator for Growing Up Boulder at the University of Colorado, where I facilitated children and youth participation in design and planning of child-friendly cities, including parks, open space, transportation, resiliency, and neighborhood projects. This work led to the publication Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities. Prior to Growing Up Boulder, I ran Crane Collaborations, which focused on youth engagement, environmental education, and community forestry in New Mexican communities.
I have also been a professional textile artist, and will travel anywhere there are beautiful textiles, nature and culture intertwined. I carry my textile interests forward through participation in the slow fiber movement, which seeks to increase sustainability of the textile industry and mindfulness to textile practice.
For more than 30 years, I have engaged children, youth and communities in participatory research and projects in both rural and urban settings, including with Indigenous communities of the Southwest, Spanish land grant communities, and newcome (recent immigrant) communities. My recent research has focused on children, nature, and environmental care in the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America. I am currently exploring research related to green schools, critical pedagogy, and how historically excluded communities develop a culture of care in relation to sustainable practices.
From 2012-2016, I was a faculty coordinator for Growing Up Boulder at the University of Colorado, where I facilitated children and youth participation in design and planning of child-friendly cities, including parks, open space, transportation, resiliency, and neighborhood projects. This work led to the publication Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities. Prior to Growing Up Boulder, I ran Crane Collaborations, which focused on youth engagement, environmental education, and community forestry in New Mexican communities.
I have also been a professional textile artist, and will travel anywhere there are beautiful textiles, nature and culture intertwined. I carry my textile interests forward through participation in the slow fiber movement, which seeks to increase sustainability of the textile industry and mindfulness to textile practice.
Pieces of Me
With Baba the inventor, at his school in Mansakonko, the Gambia. I served as a high school teacher from 1990-1992 through the Peace Corps. Baba was one of many bright lights in this experience and solidified my interest in work that supports people and their environments.
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Teresa, one of the participants in my dissertation research in New Mexico, standing in front of "her" park, a place of family murals and memories that helped sustain her through hard times. She signifies for me the importance of sense of place as a starting point for understanding people's relationship to the environment.
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Mountainair Youth Conservation Corps crew on a VERY old alligator juniper tree. Facilitating YCC educational programming in New Mexico's five national forests fueled my passion for environmental education and community development.
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Along a playroute in the "City of Play," Odense, Denmark. One of the most inspiring trips - to Sweden and Denmark - that has shaped my work to support the creation of better places for everyone.
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At the CSUMB Salinas Center for Arts and Culture with Environmental Studies students as we seek ways to bring culture and nature together in courtyard gardens and greenspaces of the city.
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At the Carneros Creek Outdoor Classroom, where magical moments abound. A partnership that invites and gives in so many ways.
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