Joy O’Neil, Director and Assistant Professor, Educational Sustainability Doctoral Program, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point

Joy graduated with her Ph.D. in Sustainability Education from Prescott College. Her undergraduate and Master’s degrees are in Environmental Science from Northern Arizona University and Water Resources Management from the University of New Mexico. As the inaugural Director of the Educational Sustainability Doctoral Program (Ed.D.) at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (UWSP), she leads in the development and execution of the program. In her program development capacity, she designs the program and curriculum to align with signature artifacts and competencies to meet sustainability education outcomes that has been accredited by the North Central Higher Learning Commission. As Assistant Professor in the program, her teaching and/or curriculum development includes: Reorienting Curriculum and Programs for a Sustainable Future, Transformative Sustainability Teaching and Learning, and Ecological Foundations for a Sustainable Society. Key to her design thinking for curriculum and program leadership centers on ecological principles of diversity, partnerships, networks, development, energy, cycles, and dynamic balance. Her current research and writing focuses on transformative sustainability education and ecological systems thinking within educational systems for socio-ecological change. She is on the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Associate Editor for the Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education, and was Co-editor of the Special Issue: Transformative Sustainability Education for the Journal of Transformative Education. She served as a participating member of a multidisciplinary task force to propose a new School of Sustainability at UWSP, with a focus on graduate programming in sustainability education and has recently been appointed to the Advisory Council for AASHE in which she serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Curriculum Committee. She is also an independent educational sustainability consultant (www.thejoyofsustainability.com<http://www.thejoyofsustainability.com>).

Samantha Kaplan, Associate Professor of Geography and Geology, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point

Samantha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She teaches lower and upper-level courses is environmental science, climate change and geoscience. Her research interests are on how past changes in climate affected terrestrial environments and what those changes can tell us about future environmental outcomes. She served on the former University Sustainability Committee and as the student Cycling Club faculty adviser. Samantha worked with the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) to facilitate an InTeGrate-sponsored travelling workshop (https://nagt.org/nagt/profdev/twp/index.html) on developing cross-campus environmental and sustainability programs. She served as chair of a multidisciplinary team to propose a new School of Sustainability at the UWSP.

Dave Barbier, Sustainability Coordinator, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point

Dave is a professional administrator, educator and facilitator with expertise in sustainability, project development and completion, Higher Education and Experiential Education. He has been an environmental advocate for over 20 years and is currently directing the Office of Sustainability at University of Wisconsin of Stevens Point.

At UW-Stevens Point Dave is responsible for the day to day Management of the Office of Sustainability. The office employees both professional and student staff who report directly to Dave. The office oversees all sustainability reporting related to campus efforts as well as the development of campus focused sustainability improvements and initiatives. The office has earned a strong reputation on campus and in the state, due to the number of accolades and recognition that have been received by the office in the last five years.