Are you a member of the coe community with a story to share? interested in contributing? Reach out via email or connect on social (links above)! Read on for more about our current coexist contributors!
Laurie Kenney has been a member of the Wesleyan University community since 2014. Before joining the College of the Environment, she was a writer/editor and the editorial marketing manager in Wesleyan’s Office of University Communications. Laurie’s professional experience includes 20+ years in publishing, public relations, marketing, and education. Her favorite on-the-job experience: Working with Sir Roger Moore on his book, Bond on Bond: Reflections on 50 Years of James Bond Movies.
Shaya is an intern at the COE and a member of the class of 2022 from Huntington, New York. An Environmental Studies, English, and French Studies major, Shaya is also a Sustainable Middletown Intern with the Sustainability Office, a member of the Green Fund Committee, and an Orientation Leader. Shaya is interested in martial arts, eco-fiction, environmental law, and groundhog-spotting on campus.
Barry Chernoff is the director of the College of the Environment and The Robert F. Schumann Chair of Environmental Studies. Chernoff joined the Wesleyan faculty in 2003. He teaches courses in Environmental Studies, Tropical Ecology, Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation, and Quantitative Analysis for the departments of Biology and Earth & Environmental Sciences. Chernoff’s research centers on the freshwater fishes of the Neotropical region, primarily those in South America in the Amazon. His research includes, ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation. He has also led international teams on expeditions designed to conserve large watersheds of the world, having made more than 32 expeditions in 12 countries.
- Read: Discover magazine: Barry Chernoff — In His Own Words
- Watch: Engaged Conversations — Bill McKibben and Barry Chernoff
- Watch: Understanding Biodiversity
In the past, Chernoff held professorial and curatorial positions at the Field Museum, University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He holds a visiting position at Universidad Central de Venezuela. In his “spare” time, Chernoff is the guitarist for the Mattabesset String Collective, a 5-piece acoustic ensemble playing an eclectic mix of bluegrass, blues, folk, mountain, country and rock, all in a string band style.
Assistant Professor of Psychology H. Shellae Versey, PhD and Emma Ritter ’19 launched a faculty-student research collaboration during the 2018-2019 academic year exploring Communities in Crisis: The impact of disasters on mental health. The research focused on environmental hazards—both natural and manmade—and the resulting effect on health and displacement among various communities. A COE faculty-student research a grant provided Versey and Ritter the opportunity to conduct research that would not have been otherwise possible.
Just coming up on the solstice, the official start of the season, and summer is already well underway at Wesleyan’s
Shayna Beaumont ’19, an environmental studies and Hispanic literatures and cultures double major from New York, has been selected as a finalist in Map the System, a global competition that asks participants to research the ecosystem of an issue they care about. Beaumont is working on the project with Wesleyan’s Partricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship. The competition finals were held June 7-9, 2019, at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, UK.
Alison Bidwell Pearce ’94 is an ecological anthropologist working to restore the ecological communities of Woodend Nature Sanctuary in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and spread an environmental ethos in the DC region.