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. Laurie spent her last three vacations on a monthlong cross-country road trip with her family, in a yurt in East Haddam, Connecticut, and in a tiny house in Epsom, New Hampshire.
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.
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.
A morning walk through Wesleyan’s 
On October 13, 2018, Wesleyan U and Middletown communities came together to celebrate the season at Pumpkin Fest, our annual fall festival held at Wesleyan’s student-run