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School of Environment and Natural Resources

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Alumni in the News


Congratulations to Dr. Jill Clark, BS 1995, natural resources, who has earned the 2022 Excellence in Faculty Community Engagement Award from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC). Clark received this national recognition for her leadership with the Franklin County Local Food Council (FCLFC). Dr. Clark is an associate professor in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University. Read more.


Congratulations to Dr. Corey Cockerill, who graduated in 2000 with a bachelor of science in agricultural communication and is the recipient of the 2021 ACEL Distinguished Alumni Award.  She also holds degrees from Ohio State, including a master's degree in rural sociology and a doctorate degree in environmental sociology, policy and communications. 

Cockerill is an associate professor of communication arts and agricultural communication at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio. Prior to her position with Wilmington College, she was the electronic communications manager for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.  Read more about the ACEL Alumni Award Program.


Congratulations to the 14 CFAES alumni and friends who will be honored at the 2022 CFAES Alumni Awards ceremony. Meet the honorees, including Ilhami Yildiz, MS ’87 Agronomy, PhD ’93 Agricultural Engineering and Pamela Thomas, MS ’90 Rural Sociology, retired CFAES Program Manager of Student Success and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.


Andrew Shea, quantitative associate, Global Sustainable Finance, Morgan Stanley and SENR alum joins the January 18 EPN program, "Sustainable Investing: Decarbonizing portfolios and financing green development" to share his work to develop innovative financial and investment products and solutions and offers research-based and experiential perspectives on market trends, and advice on leading informational resources that are influencing future directions in the sustainable investment field. Shea studied at Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, earning a Master of Applied Economics (2018) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environment and Natural Resources with an Environmental Economics specialization (2018). 


Several alumni interviews have been newly added to the SENR Alumni Career Spotlights are featured on the School's website! The Spotlights are a neat way to connect with our alumni, learn more about their career paths and gain professional development insights. We are so thankful for the time our alumni share with us. Check out the latest Alumni Spotlights added to the web collection: Micah PaceSherri PetersonMarne TitchenellVanessa PerryGwen KolbOrrin DuvuvueiCheryl JohncoxChris YoderAlexis SakasVicki MullerBen JacksonMark Dilley


Katie Brown has been selected as a recipient of the 2021 Pisacano Scholarship. Each recipient is noted as an outstanding medical student who has made a commitment to enter the specialty of Family Medicine. 

Learn about the scholarship | Learn about the scholars


Frank Beum has been named regional forester for the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service. Read about this role and Mr. Beum's career and leadership in forestry here.


Martha Zapata, who is a SENR alumni is the featured scientist in a recent USFWS Conservation Library story on Medium. The feature shares about Martha’s research as an undergraduate and graduate student, and the current research Martha is engaged in now as a biologist with the Georgia Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Read here.


Maggie Beetstra, who is a SENR alumni and a current Knauss Fellow with NOAA’s Office of Education shares lessons learned in science communication in the Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship Blog (May 27) here. If you scroll through, you may run across a few other posts by SENR alumni, who were also selected as Fellows for this prestigious program.


Mark Monaco, ’81 BS Fisheries Management and ’MS Environmental Biology and from 1981-1983 served as the manager of Stone Laboratory is featured in the CFAES Alumni Spotlight. Read the interview on his work and career here.


Read about the Columbus’ urban-forestry master plan recently released in the ThisWeek COMMUNITY NEWS (April 6) article, “City of Columbus: Urban-forestry master plan calls for increasing tree canopy to 40%.” Rosalie Hendon (’17 MS ENR) is the project manager for the master plan and is quoted in the article.


Read a short "Where are they now?" interview with W. Alan Wentz, ’69 BS Natural Resources, who was a CFAES Alumni Award recipient in 1999.


Celena Ritchey (BS ENR ’18 Environmental Policy and Decision Making) is the Class of 2018 Representative on the CFAES Alumni Society Board.  Read a short interview with Celena here and meet other Board members.


Callia Tellez, a 2019 spring graduate of the School of Environment and Natural Resources and a 2020 CFAES Distinguished Senior, presented “Conservation from the Local Level Up: A Lesson from the Farmers of the Great Lakes Basin” as a Spotlight Speaker in Ohio State’s Research and Innovation Showcase. The event, organized annually by the Office of Research and Corporate Engagement Office, was held this year as a series of virtual talks. 

Read more and watch Callia's presentation.


Marie McConnell (BS ENR ’19 Environmental Policy and Decision Making) is the Treasurer and Class of 2019 Representative on the CFAES Alumni Society Board.  Read a short interview with Marie here and meet other Board members.


Jill Clark BS Natural Resources ’95 has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Canada for “Scaling-up food democracy: An analysis of Canadian and U.S. food policy councils.”  Jill is an associate professor in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.


William Murdock MS Parks, Recreation & Tourism Administration ’00 received the Dean’s Meritorious Service to Students Award from the College of Engineering. The award recognizes an individual or group from outside the Ohio State community for exemplary service to students of the College of Engineering or Knowlton School of Architecture. William Murdock serves as executive director of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC).


Ashlee M. Balcerzak, BS Environmental Science 2018 awarded the 2019 Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) Graduate (Master's) Research Award


Ric Queen, BS Fisheries & Wildlife Management 1979 - Volunteers Plant Trees and Wildflowers to Celebrate Earth Day 


Dr. Blanca Bernal, MS Natural Resources 2008, PhD Environment and Natural Resources 2012 - Fixing the Leaking Pipeline  


Rebecca Mellino, BS EEDS, 2015 - presented at the 2019 Time for Change Week Women In Sustainability Breakfast Panel. Rebecca is Program Manager at Magrann Associates and Board President of Green Columbus.


Kent Vertrees, BS in Fisheries & Wildlife Management, 1993 – Kent Vertrees Wins the Genuine Steamboat Award 


Congratulations to Alumnus Steve Goodwin (BS, Parks Recreation & Tourism Administration), who was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for his leadership in the field of natural resources conservation and management at the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Alumni Awards and Recognition program on March 2, 2019.  Read more here.


SENR Alumnus Nolan Rutschilling, who serves as director of the Energy & Sustainability program for the Ohio Hospital Association is featured in the January 17 Reader Profile in Distributed Energy Magazine.


Listen to SENR alumnus and chair of the 2019 Ohio Hop Conference Dave Volkman discuss hop growing in Ohio and what's next for the industry in this Ohio's Country Journal video.


SENR Alumna Danae Wolfe was a speaker at the 2018 TEDx Columbus - On the Edge, November 16, 2018 at the Davidson Theater, Riffe Center. Watch Danae's TEDx Columbus talk, "Ew to Awe: Your View of Bugs May Never be the Same"


SENR Alumna Ellen Crivella is featured in the Winter 2018 Ohio State Alumni Magazine Where I Live article, “Paradise Found: Portland, Oregon.”


Matthew Bright, PhD

Matthew Bright, a recent SENR alumnus who completed his PhD in 2017 specializing in soil science (Richard Dick advisor), who has been selected as a 2019 Congressional Science Policy Fellow as part of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellowship (STPF) program. Bright’s fellowship is sponsored by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America. View Bright’s Congressional Fellow Profile here.

 

 


Koral and Randy Clum named National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year

Forestry alumnus, Randy Clum and Koral Clum have been named the 2018 National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year by the American Tree Farm System.  Read more about this honor and the Clum’s 152-acre certified tree farm in Harrison County here.


Corey Cockerill, PhD

The Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities (GCCCU) honored Corey Cockerill Friday, November 8th, as the Outstanding Faculty member at the GCCCU’s Celebration of Teaching luncheon. Cockerill is an assistant professor of communication arts at Wilmington College. Prior to her current appointment, she served as the electronic communications manager at the ODNR Division of Wildlife. In both 2010 and 2013, she co-authored two book chapters focusing on the role of information in adoption-diffusion models. In addition, she published articles in the International Journal of Business and Social Science, the Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment, and the Journal of Applied Communications. Cockerill serves on the board at Energize Clinton County and holds memberships with the Soil and Water Conservation Society, the Association for Conservation Information, the International Association of Business Communicators and the Outdoor Writers of Ohio. She is also the recipient of the 2012-13 Student Government Association award for teaching excellence at Wilmington College.

Dr. Corey Cockerill received her PhD from The Ohio State University in 2006.


Elizabeth Guetral, PhD

Dr. Elizabeth Guertal is a professor in the Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Department at Auburn University, Alabama. Dr. Guertal recently made news as being named a 2013 Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America. Only 0.3% of the Society's active members may be elected as a fellow. Dr. Guertal's research focuses on Environmental Turfgrass Management, specifically fertilizer management. In addition to being named a 2013 Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, Dr. Guertal has also been awarded Outstanding Instructor in the Deparment of Agronomy and Soils, Auburn University (1995); Outstanding Alumni Award (Young Careerist) - Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, TheOhio State University (1996); Novartis Award in Agronomy, American Society of Agronomy (1997); Auburn Alumni Association Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award (1998); Faculty Honoree, Auburn University Camp War Eagle (1999); Omicron Delta Kappa Favorite Faculty (1999); Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor in the College of Agriculture (2001); and Agronomy Club Outstanding Teacher (2001).

Dr. Elizabeth Guertal graduated with her Bachelor's degree in 1984 and her Master's degree in 1988 from The Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources. She received her PhD in 1993 from Oklahoma State University.


Ann Froschauer, MS

Since January of this year, Ms. Froschauer has moved into a new office, located at the USFWS headquarters in Washington, DC. She is now a part of the Office of Science Advisor with the Service, working as the communication coordinator on a variety of issues. Ann credits her success in part to the faculty and staff in SENR.  She built good relationships with both faculty and staff, who helped encourage her on her path in environmental decision making. Ann enjoys the opportunity to come back to OSU to speak with young adults who are just now embarking on their careers. She also enjoys focusing her communication efforts about conservation on children, because she believes they are the next generation of conservation.

Ann Froschauer graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1998 and her Master’s degree in 2005 from The Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources