I was born in Midland Michigan--Go Chemics!--where I learned to appreciate science. My partner, Jeff, was my high school sweetheart. After High school, Jeff went to Purdue, where he obtained a Bachelor degree in Chem E. and I went to Hope College where I received a Bachelor degree in Psychology and Women’s Studies. After college we married and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we learned to talk with a Scandinavian accent, live in the cold, and run marathons. We obtained graduate degrees at the University of Minnesota. Under the guidance of many faculty, including Eugene Borgida, my advisor, I earned my Ph.D. in Social Psychology. Jeff earned his Masters of Business and work experience at General Mills.
After obtaining our degrees, and a brief stint in St. Louis where Jeff worked at Continental Baking, we moved to State College, PA in 1988 where I still currently work at The Pennsylvania State University. While here, Jeff has developed his business skills running different start-up companies, with the last being Nanotech company called KeystoneNano, .
We were blessed with two Children, adopted in 1997 and 1998, who have filled our lives with more than we ever expected. Chris graduated with a BA degree from Penn State in Recreation Park and Tourism Management. Cassidy graduated with a BA degree from Penn State and Business and then an MBA from University of California, Riverside.
After having loved two relatively large Bearded collies who's loving spirits have moved to a different place, we are enjoying the affection of a small dog named Lexie and a Russian Siberian cat named Alexandria.
After obtaining our degrees, and a brief stint in St. Louis where Jeff worked at Continental Baking, we moved to State College, PA in 1988 where I still currently work at The Pennsylvania State University. While here, Jeff has developed his business skills running different start-up companies, with the last being Nanotech company called KeystoneNano, .
We were blessed with two Children, adopted in 1997 and 1998, who have filled our lives with more than we ever expected. Chris graduated with a BA degree from Penn State in Recreation Park and Tourism Management. Cassidy graduated with a BA degree from Penn State and Business and then an MBA from University of California, Riverside.
After having loved two relatively large Bearded collies who's loving spirits have moved to a different place, we are enjoying the affection of a small dog named Lexie and a Russian Siberian cat named Alexandria.
MY PActs (Pro-environmental Actions)Personal PActs
This is our home. We have endeavored to reduce our planetary impact by obtaining our energy from renewable sources, reducing our energy consumption, lighten our use of fossil fuel driven transportation, creating wildlife habitats in our yard, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling (RRR) our waste, and eating vegetarian foods much of which comes from local farmers. |
Example Personal PActs RENEWABLE ENERGY: Hired Envinity to Instal two arrays of solar panels on our roof. ENERGY CONSUMPTION: Guided by an energy audit, reduced our energy use by replacing all bulbs with CFLs and LEDs, buy energy efficient appliances, fully insulated the house--including the walls in the basement, and generating heat and air-condition from an energy efficient heat pump; TRANSPORTATION: Reduced fossil fuel consumption by bicycling to work when the weather complies, busing at other times, and when driving, using a hybrid car; WILDLIFE: Created a yard that is a home for wildlife, including water in our pond which is a home fish and frogs and used by large and small animals, plants for pollinators, and fruit trees, berry bushes, and native plants we share with the critters that live in our lawn and nearby. RRR: Reduce as much purchasing of plastics when ever we can, Reusing containers of various types, Recycling all we can--including composting our food in our backyard and using in our garden. FOOD: We eat vegetarian foods and buy food from a local food sources. |
Community and Civic PActsI have worked with communities of Faith including the Unitarian Universalists Green Sanctuary committee and Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light. With the latter including bicycle trips from State College to DC where we met a variety of communities along the way and end by lobbying our representatives to take action to address climate change.
I have also participated in various marches including the March for Science in Washington DC, written letters to the editor of our local paper, and supported political candidates who share a commitment to protecting the environment. In addition to donating to Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light, Jeff and I also donate to organizations including GreenPeace, Worldlife foundation, and PennEnvironment and we have sponsored several different children for over 30 years through Child fund. |
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