Key Publications and Projects:
Education:
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Ph.D., Natural Resources Policy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (May 2006)
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M.Div., Yale Divinity School, Yale University, New Haven, CT (Cum Laude, May 1999)
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B.S., Biological Sciences/Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (Honors and Distinction, May 1992)
Professional Experience:
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Ohio State University, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Columbus, OH:
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University of Nairobi, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Nairobi, Kenya:
Teaching, Research, and Outreach & Engagement Interests:
My work centers around environmental values and ethics in the complex realms of religion, ecology, and sustainability. Even more deeply, the vision for my scholarship, practice, and community engagement follows from a sense of calling to help develop and implement solutions to contemporary environmental and sustainability challenges. My involvements span a diverse range of activities and interests, and as such sometimes confound efforts to peg my academic identity within any one discipline. My doctoral research explored environmental education and ethics in North American faith communities, and the links between science and values, ethics, cultures, and religions; my disciplinary background spans from the natural sciences (ecology) through the social sciences (environmental policy, education, and values) and into the humanities (environmental ethics and eco-theology). A growing part of my work involves transdisciplinary, community-led research projects, epitomized by the sustainability-focused capstone research projects I advise with our graduating sustainability students in the Environment, Economy, Development and Sustainability (EEDS) major, which have led to more than 150 published research reports housed in the Campus as a Living Laboratory Archive of the OSU Knowledge Bank. These capstone projects bridge teaching, research, and outreach, and in 2024 ours became the first capstone program at Ohio State to be recognized as a Program of Excellence in Outreach and Engagement by OSU's Office of Outreach and Engagement.
The multi- and inter-disciplinary nature of the School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) has provided a home for my interlinked focus. My other primary activities emerge from a range of values, ethics, and religion-ecology initiatives, efforts to support the practice of sustainability, and an increasing portfolio of experiential education projects. I serve on the Executive Committee of the OSU Agroecosystem Management Program (AMP). I am a member of the Steering Team for Ohio State’s Center for Ethics and Human Values (CEHV), and provided leadership for the 2015-2016 Sustainability COMPAS Program that brought world-renowned sustainability leaders to Ohio State. Amid several years as a faculty member of the OSU President and Provost's Council on Sustainability, I was co-drafter of Ohio State's Sustainability Goals in 2018, and a primary developer of OSU's Six Dimensions of Sustainability framework. Since 2022, I have been a co-PI and instructor in the MOHERE (Masters in One Health and Emergency Research Ethics) Program developed between Ohio State and the University of Nairobi, Kenya. I was a planning committee member and co-coordinator of the North American Hub of the Iceland Global Faith for Nature program (launched in 2020), which built upon my prior professional work with the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs, and my role as the founding Executive Director and later Board Chair of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light. I worked with colleagues and students at Ohio State to develop the RESTORExchange Religion and Sustainability Database (launched in 2022), which houses resources relevant to the nexus of community and organization faith-based environmental work, and hosts the “What Does ‘Sustainability' and 'Religion and Environment' Look Like?" Photo Galleries. I published an open-source textbook in 2019 through OSU Pressbooks for my course “Religion and Environmental Values in America,” and continue to add chapters to a student-authored companion text, “Emerging Perspectives in Religion and Environmental Values” (2022). A similarly student-authored book, developed by SENR PhD students, is forthcoming in 2026, titled “Environment and Natural Resource Research Paradigms,” highlighting the underlying paradigms and philosophies behind the diverse yet related disciplines in SENR.
As of 2026, I will be adding more experiential education focus to my work. I have been a resident director of the OSU Iceland Abroad program since 2025, and am currently working on developing similar programming in Kenya. I am also beginning to develop a framework to support future field studies courses in SENR (domestic "study abroad" experiences, if you will). Since 2014, I have variously been a volunteer board member, program developer, and instructor for Worthington Field Studies, and am currently working to build capacity in that space to enhance experiential education outreach programming in Central Ohio schools. I am also working with collaborators to finalize an open-source book titled “Wilderness Stewards: Spiritual Adventure Education for Sustainability." And in an exciting example of where practice and community environmental values meets natural resource management, I have been an active member of the Worthington Deer Task Force/Advisory Committee, and a volunteer hunting ethics instructor for the Hunting for Conservation program of Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow.
Research Interests and Areas of Specialization:
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Analysis of Solutions to Local Sustainability Problems
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Theory and practice of faith-community environmental education and ethics
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Religious influences on environmental attitudes and behavior
- Environmental ethics; Eco-theology; Religion and ecology
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Experiential Education for Environmental Ethics and Resilience
Honors:
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Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor (2023) and Faculty Mentor Recognition award for SENR Undergraduate and Graduate students, CFAES, (2025, 2024, 2014)
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Ohio State Office of Outreach and Engagement, Program of Excellence in Outreach and Engagement award: Sustainability Living Lab Capstone Program (2024)
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USDA Teaching and Student Engagement Award, CFAES Nominee (2021)
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Emerging International Engagement Award, OSU Office of International Affairs and Office of Outreach and Engagement, Co-PI with Robert Agunga (2018)
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Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer at Ohio State, nominee (April 2016)
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North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA), Educator Award (June 2015)
