Speakers

Debra Rowe

Debra Rowe has been professor of energy management, renewable energy technology and psychology at Oakland Community College for more than 29 years. The college offers degrees in environmental systems technologies and certificates in renewable energies and sustainable living.

Dr. Rowe created a model energy services technician degree design for community and technical colleges. The model was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. She also created and teaches an online energy management and renewable energies course, with National Science Foundation support, as part of the renewable energies certificate offered by the Consortium for Education in Renewable Energy Technology. She has hosted more than 100 conferences and customized trainings on energy and sustainable design practices, and has helped numerous colleges develop their energy curricula.

Dr. Rowe is the president of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, which convenes members of the business, education, community, government, and faith sectors of the U.S. and catalyzes sustainability initiatives. She is also national co-coordinator of the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium, founder of the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability, and senior advisor to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Dr. Rowe is also a U.S. designee to the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics for the international sustainability group. She helps higher education associations and institutions integrate sustainability into mission, curricula, research, student life, purchasing and investments, facilities and operations, and community partnerships.

She is often a keynote speaker at national and international education conferences. Dr. Rowe is the author or editor of numerous publications on the integration of sustainability into education (see www.ncseonline.org/EFS/DebraRowe.pdf and www.michiganenergyoptions.org/learnmore/sustainable-education-handbook for examples).

Formal education
Degree	School	Year
Ph.D. in Business	University of Michigan	1991
M.A. in Psychology	University of Michigan	1989
M.B.A. in Business	University of Michigan	1988
B.A.	Yale University	1977

Environmental Issues, Policy and Law Panel

Karl Brooks, associate professor of History and Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas (Ph.D. Kansas, 2000; J.D. Harvard, 1983; M.Sc. London School of Economics, 1980; B.A. Yale, 1978). Environmental law and policy in North America; energy and environment; non-governmental organizations in American politics, especially environmental policy; and American social and political history since 1945. Teaching interests include environmental law; North American environmental history and policy; American legal history; and postwar American culture and politics.

A Boise, Idaho, native, Brooks returned to Boise in 1983, where he practiced law until 1993 and served three terms in the Idaho Senate, 1986-1992. Before returning to graduate school, Brooks also worked for the Idaho Conservation League, Idaho's largest citizens' environmental group. Brooks has published numerous articles in the fields of environmental history and environmental law. The University of Washington Press published in 2006 Brooks' Public Power, Private Dams: The Hells Canyon High Dam Controversy in its Weyerhaeuser Environmental History Series. He recently published a commissioned article about current environmental historiography and Kansas history, "Environmental History as Kansas History: Review Essay," in Kansas History. He is currently working on "A Rising Wind: The Emergence of American Environmental Law, 1945-1980," under contract (Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas). Brooks spent 2001-2002 in Washington, D.C., as a Supreme Court Fellow.

Nancy Jackson is executive director of the Climate and Energy Project (CEP) of The Land Institute. CEP supports lively, informed conversations about our energy future and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency and developing renewable energies in a sustainable manner. CEP's mission is to infuse core values of stewardship, resilience, balance, and innovation into community, regional, and national discussions of climate change and energy.

Jackson is a participant in the Kansas Wind Working Group, the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord advisory group, and the Presidential Climate Action Plan.

Jackson earned a master's degree in environmental history from the University of Kansas.

Sustainable Design and Construction Panel

Casey Cassias, Moderator

Nathan Benjamin is a staunch believer in the necessity and value of sustainable building, and created PlanetReuse to take that ideal a step further. PlanetReuse is predicated on a simple but revolutionary idea: make it easy for people to use reclaimed materials and they'll do more of it, keeping those materials out of landfills. The first-to-market company has grown 300 percent in the last year.

Benjamin, who holds a degree in architectural engineering, has been a fixture in the construction industry for more than a decade, focusing on sustainable and LEED-certified projects. In his work for respected construction and engineering firms, he has managed projects ranging from $1 to $45 million in construction value. A member of the Board of Directors for the Building Materials Reuse Association, Benjamin has presented on the topic of reclaimed materials at industry conferences nationwide. He is well known for his immense passion for sustainability, the arts and community involvement.

PlanetReuse makes using reclaimed building materials effortless, expertly matching materials with designers, builders and owners to save projects money, serve LEED efforts and sustain the planet. They take all the hard work out of incorporating reclaimed building material into projects, guiding clients through every step of the process and matching materials to their needs. A project's schedule and budget benefit, and–crucially–so does the planet.

Stephen Hardy (AICP, LEED AP Urban Planning) began his professional career working for the United States Congress. After his stint on Capitol Hill, he spent three years as a land planner and project manager for The Conservation Fund in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in handling environmentally sensitive land planning and real estate issues for large institutions, city governments, and private individuals nationwide. Hardy's work experience included identifying development opportunities without degrading environmental resources, coordinating project consultants, managing sensitive real estate transactions, participating in strategic planning charettes, and interacting with all levels of government.

Hardy brought his policy and comprehensive planning experience with him to BNIM and is involved with projects at a variety of scales. To these, he incorporates his practical experience with the design training he received at the Harvard Graduate School of Design to find the balance between good planning and responsible design. With more than eight years of GIS experience and an expanding knowledge of 3-D modeling tools, Hardy also understands the power of incorporating new technologies with traditional planning techniques.

Hardy believes in the necessity of a healthy city center and has worked to promote vibrant downtowns and city streets that are friendly and functional. Recently, he served as project manager for the Greensburg, Kansas Sustainable Comprehensive Plan and the City of Riverside, Missouri’s Comprehensive Plan, both of which have received regional and national recognition for exemplary planning. In Greensburg Stephen helped the City plan for recovery after a catastrophic EF5 tornado that wiped out most of the community's structures. He and the team worked in close collaboration with the entire community, including City officials, City staff, Steering Committee members, local community members, and other stakeholders to create a master plan that is helping to guide a cohesive redevelopment that will embrace the principles of economic, social and environmental sustainability. His efforts in championing this plan ultimately led to the City’s decision to become the first ever to commit to LEED Platinum certification for all new civic buildings. In 2008, the Greensburg Comprehensive Master Plan received international recognition with the prestigious Sustainable Cities Award from Financial Times and the Urban Land Institute.

Currently, Hardy is contributing to a Redevelopment Plan in Montreal, Quebec for a new zero-carbon, zero-waste neighborhood. Additionally, he is serving as the project manager for the Greater Kansas City Downtown Area Plan. This work will be used to bring the 11 neighborhoods in downtown under one coherent strategy. Kansas City's downtown is riding a nearly decade long renaissance and the Downtown Area Plan will establish a framework for continued success.

Bill Hanlon has been involved in the construction field for 35 years as a carpenter, building contractor, truss manufacturer, and teacher. His work in the field has focused on energy efficient building, and the teaching of alternative methods and approaches to make homes more efficient and sustainable. For the past 14 years Mr. Hanlon has been an instructor in the Construction Technology program at Flint Hills Technical College in Emporia, Kansas, and is currently the director of the Sustainable Living Center at the college. The book Outside the Box, published in 2006, introduces the reader to simple methods that produce a much more energy efficient home at little extra cost.

Gary Coats has been a member of the architecture faculty at K-State since 1977, Coates is nationally and internationally recognized as a leading voice in the movement to create socially, technologically and ecologically sustainable buildings, cities and bioregions. He has received more than 40 research, demonstration and service grants and has been a keynote speaker, lecturer and workshop leader at more than 90 professional and scholarly conferences in this country and Europe.

During his three-year term as inaugural Regnier Distinguished Faculty Chair, Coates will complete a study of Kronsberg, Germany, a model sustainable urban district designed and built as part of EXPO 2000, the World's Fair hosted by the city of Hannover. Planned to include five pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods for some 15,000 people, this compact mixed-use development is characterized by integrated renewable energy production, climatically adapted architecture, multi-modal transportation linkages, organic urban agriculture and ecologically based landscape design. In addition to evaluating how well Kronsberg is meeting its architectural, social, ecological and technological objectives, Coates will explore how this German demonstration project might be relevant to the creation of livable and sustainable communities in the United States.

Coates was selected as the Regnier Distinguished Faculty Chair based on the recommendations of a review committee from a distinguished peer institution. In their recommendation, the committee noted, "This research proposal represents a wonderful culmination of Professor Coates' many years of study and advocacy of a more sane and sustainable man-made environment. With passion, evidence and insight, he argues – as he has done for 30 years – that the future of the environment and human society depends in large measure on a new set of social norms and principles, as well as ecological and sustainable practices. He not only argues persuasively in favor of these principles in his writing; he teaches them to his students, many of whom, we hope, will carry his convictions and thirst for understanding with them into their professional careers as design professionals and as citizens."

Coates' publications include a half-dozen research monographs, more than a dozen book chapters, and some 70 papers published in professional journals. He has edited and authored five books, including: "Resettling America: Energy, Ecology and Community," (1981); "Erik Asmussen, Architect (1997); and "The Architecture of Carl Nyrén" (2007).

From Competition to Collaboration Panel: New Inter-Institutional Courses and Educational Partnerships

Dawn Anderson is project coordinator for the Institute of Academic Alliances at Kansas State University. Prior to that she was associate director of Affirmative Action at K-State. In that position she was responsible for the university’s Affirmative Action plan, which involved detailed workforce analysis and investigating discrimination and harassment complaints.

Anderson has a master’s degree in gerontology from Iowa State University.

Jan Middendorf is Acting Director of the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation at Kansas State University. She has an extensive background in developing collaborative relationships for project preparation, project facilitation, grant writing and review, and budget preparation. She has expertise in project design, implementation, management of program evaluations, as well as the strategic planning for projects. As assistant director she provides leadership in project development, and in creating collaborative relationships with faculty and funding agencies for the purpose of developing innovative joint projects. She currently serves as the Principal Investigator for a statewide broad-band connectivity initiative, Kan-ed, housed in the Kansas Board of Regents.

Middendorf received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island, and a master’s degree in International Affairs from Ohio University, where she focused on cross cultural education. She holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education at K-State. She has also worked in international development, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Central America and later in community service-learning programs in the British Virgin Islands. Her primary interests are in educational reform, project development and program evaluation.

Jim Peters is director of professional programs and communications for University of Kansas Continuing Education. He has been with KU Continuing Education since 2005.

A native of Quincy, Illinois, Peters earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a law degree from the New England School of Law in Boston. After practicing law for eight years, Peters became involved in publishing and marketing, and worked for Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company in Dubuque, Iowa, and as assistant director of Publications and Alumni Publications at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Sue Maes, dean of continuing education at K-State, has served the education community for decades. She is an expert on building new academic programs and fostering institutional collaboration.

As senior development officer since 1995 at K-State's Educational Communications Center, she provided leadership to the campus, Regents system and state of Kansas in the development of telecommunications and multimedia infrastructure. As co-director of the Institute for Academic Alliances, Maes has worked across faculty teams to build online master's degree programs in family financial planning, gerontology, youth development, merchandising and community development.

Maes was the assistant dean and director of academic outreach in 1994-95 for the Division of Continuing Education. She also was in charge of planning and resource development for several years.

From 1998 to 1999, Maes was president of the University Continuing Education Association, and in 2000 she was elected to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. For the past several years she has helped develop the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance. Maes also is skilled in project management and external funding acquisition. She has taught numerous classes and seminars on teaching strategies and grant writing, and she has been awarded numerous grants for research.

In addition to her administrative abilities, Maes has demonstrated a decades-long commitment to advancing rural education and community development. She was a co-founder of the Rural Clearinghouse for Lifelong Education and Development in 1984, a national effort to improve rural access to education. She also helped design the Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives, a rural assistance center at K-State that was created to serve rural communities in the areas of economic development, leadership, micro-enterprise and strategic planning.

Maes also has served as the executive director for the University for Man, now UFM Community Learning Center, a nonprofit campus and community education program.

Maes received a bachelor's in social science, a master's in family and child development, and a doctorate in counseling and educational psychology, all from K-State. She also has participated in the Harvard University's Institute for Management of Lifelong Education.

Robert Edelson, MATC

Student Panel: Future of Agriculture and Food in Kansas

Margaret Tran, University of Kansas

Jason Hering, University of Kansas

Nathan Keep, Kansas State University

Andrew McGowan, Kansas State University

One Health Panel

Mike Cates is a professor and director of the Master of Public Health Program at K-State. His main responsibilities revolve around the management and administration of the Master of Public Health Program, an interdisciplinary graduate degree program involving faculty, staff and students from multiple departments, colleges and support units on this campus. He also coordinates and teaches veterinary public health and zoonoses in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Cates earned a master’s degree in public health in 1987 from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Texas A&M University in 1980. He has more than 28 years of practice in a blend of veterinary medicine and public health in the military. Prior to joining the K-State faculty, he served as the senior veterinary for the Department of Defense and as the senior public health officer in the Army.

Beth Montelone is a professor of biology at K-State. She currently serves as interim director of the Biosecurity Research Institute and holds the Peine Professorship of Biosecurity. Additionally, she serves as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

A K-State faculty member since 1988, Montelone has conducted research in DNA repair and mutagenesis as well as in science outreach. Her work has been funded by several agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. She is a member of graduate faculty for the Master of Public Health program and co-directs the Pathways to Public Health and One Health Kansas projects.

Montelone earned a bachelor of science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a doctorate from the University of Rochester, both in New York. She carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Miami School of Medicine and the University of Iowa.

Sam Wisely is assistant professor of wildlife biology at K-State. Her research uses both ecological and molecular tools to investigate how alteration of the environment affects biological processes at multiple scales. She maintains two laboratories, the Conservation Genetic and Molecular Ecology Lab and the Ancient DNA Lab. She co-teaches Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation at K-state and is advisor for the student chapter of The Wildlife Society.

Wisely earned a bachelor of arts degree in evolution and animal behavior from the University of California, San Diego; a master of science degree in wildlife ecology from Humboldt State University; and a doctorate in zoology and physiology from the University of Wyoming.

Larry Erickson, K-State chemical engineer, directs the Center for Hazardous Substance Research, which provides long and short-term environmental research related to key hazardous substance problems in this geographical area. These problems include soil and ground water remediation, waste minimization and pollution prevention associated with agriculture, forestry, mining and mineral processing. The emphasis is on contaminated soil remediation. Significant advances in techniques for the remediation of contaminated soil developed through Erickson's research have resulted in cost savings at many field sites including some in Kansas.

In 2001 Erickson was recognized with the $10,000 Irvin Youngberg Award for research achievement in the applied sciences from the University of Kansas. In his more than 40 years of service to the field of chemical engineering, he has co-authored more than 330 papers covering a wide range of topics and has consulted with numerous international industrial clients and academic institutions. He is co-author of chapters in six books.

His professional memberships include Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Society of Fermentation Technology of Japan.

Erickson received his Ph.D. from K-State in chemical engineering. He became a full professor after only eight years on K-State's faculty.

Jodi Freifeld is the curriculum coordinator for One Health Kansas at Kansas State University, where her focus is on improving public health programs in Kansas universities and providing continuing education to public health professionals. She earned her doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999 and a master of business administration with an emphasis in management from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2008.

Freifeld has practiced in veterinary hospitals in Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado since 1999 as a small animal veterinarian and an emergency veterinarian. From 2002 to 2005, she was an officer in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps where her primary responsibilities included veterinary medicine, food inspection, public health, program management, and personnel management. She was stationed in the state of Washington from 2002 to 2004, where she participated as a volunteer member of the Island County Environment Health Assessment Team. From 2004 to 2005, Freifeld was stationed in Sinai, Egypt as part of the Multinational Force and Observers, where she performed food inspection throughout Egypt and Israel. From 2008 to 2009, she owned a business that provided house call pet euthanasia in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Statewide Wind Network Panel

Barry Kaaz is the dean of external affairs and facilities management for Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas. Prior to that he was an engineer/manager for SW Bell Telephone for 23 years, where he served as project manager on numerous construction projects. He has a bachelor of science degree in construction science/management from K-State, and a master’s in organizational leadership from Fort Hays State.

Bruce Graham is the lead instructor for the Cloud County Community College Wind Energy Technology Program. He was hired in 2006 to develop the program, recruit students, and instruct the courses. The program has grown from the original four students into a program of more than 110 students. In addition to Cloud Count Community College, Graham was an instructor for Fort Hays State University and has more than 25 years of teaching experience. He was a 1st Congressional District Finalist for Kansas Teacher of the Year Award, the recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, is a member of the Kansas Exemplary Educators Network (KEEN), and for his work with the Wind Energy Technology program, he was nominated for the National Bellwether Award. His technical background is in the areas of electrical, electronics, mechanical, hydraulics, and computer networking. His home town is in Miltonvale, Kansas where he still is an active farmer and rancher.

Paul Adams

Janet Twomey

Ruth Miller

Campus Facilities and Infrastructure Panel

Dana Cunningham is director of facilities planning at Fort Hays State University.

Susan Scott is senior advisor and associate professor in the School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University. She was founding director of leadership studies at K-State. A community leadership award in her name was established to honor those whose leadership is focused on bringing progressive change to communities.

John Woods is director of facilities services at Kansas State University.

Bill Hartman is director of building services, utilities and systems maintenance at Emporia State University.

Scott McVey, University of Kansas

Ben Champion is director of sustainability at Kansas State University, where he also serves as faculty advisor for the K-State Student Sustainability Coalition. He is chair of the university’s award-winning Sustainability Conference.

Champion’s core areas of geographic research are in human, cultural, and regional geography, nature-society interactions, and rural/urban landscapes and sustainability. His research interests include alternative agri-food systems, renewable energy, political economy, political ecology, complexity theory and network analysis, and Kansas resource politics. He teaches Sustainability Science and World Regional Geography.

Champion earned bachelor’s degrees in 2002 in chemistry, natural resources and environmental sciences with minors in Spanish and political science. He is a 2003 Rhodes scholar and a Truman scholarship competition finalist. In 2008 he earned a doctoral degree in geography at Oxford University, researching sustainable food systems.

Champion is a member of Alpha Chi Sigma chemical fraternity and Golden Key and Phi Beta Kappa national honor societies.

Jeff Severin is director of the Center for Sustainability (CFS) at the University of Kansas. He has worked at the university since 2004, managing the Environmental Stewardship Program prior to his appointment with CFS. As manager of Environmental Stewardship, Jeff helped expand recycling opportunities at KU, worked with student groups to address environmental concerns facing the campus, and chaired the Sustainability Task Force that lead to the development of the center.

Before coming to KU, Jeff served as Field Coordinator for the Kansas StreamLink program of the Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance, where he focused on watershed education and stewardship. His position with StreamLink provided the opportunity to work with K-12 students and teachers and natural resource professionals throughout the state of Kansas.

Jeff is a graduate of the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and is currently pursuing a Master of Urban Planning degree from KU with an emphasis in Environmental Planning. He is on the board of directors for the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education, and chairs their Education Program Advisory Committee. Jeff also served on the Lawrence Mayor’s Climate Protection Task Force, which presented the Lawrence City Commission with recommendations for reducing community greenhouse gas emissions in March of 2009.

Climate Science Research Panel

Chuck Rice, university distinguished professor of soil microbiology at K-State, has conducted long-term research on soil organic dynamics, nitrogen transformations and microbial ecology.

Recently, his research has focused on soil and global climate change, including C and N emissions in agricultural and grassland ecosystems, and soil carbon sequestration and its potential benefits to the ecosystem.

Internationally, Rice was a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He also is one of five team leaders for a $20 million Kansas NSF EPSCoR project researching global climate change and renewable energy research. Rice will lead the group that will use climate modeling tactics to predict the effects of climate change and develop strategies for adaptation and mitigation.

Rice’s research has been supported by more than $15 million in grants from the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Energy, National Science Foundation and others. He is director of the Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases. He has advised more than 30 graduate students and has more than 100 publications.

Rice earned his bachelor's from Northern Illinois University and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky. He joined the K-State faculty in 1988, was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and to professor in 1998. He was named a university distinguished professor in 2009.

In addition to his involvement in research and teaching in soil microbiology at K-State, Rice has been active with the Soil Science Society of America, where he is president-elect. He currently serves on the National Academies Board on Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Air Quality Task Force.

He chairs the Commission on Soils, Food Security and Public Health of the International Union of Soil Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Daniel Wildcat, Ph.D., is a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, and an accomplished scholar who writes on indigenous knowledge, technology, environment, and education. He is also co-director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center, which he founded with colleagues from the Center for Hazardous Substance Research at Kansas State University. A Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, Wildcat is the coauthor, with Vine Deloria, Jr., of Power and Place: Indian Education in America (Fulcrum, 2001), and coeditor, with Steve Pavlik, of Destroying Dogma: Vine Deloria, Jr., and His Influence on American Society (Fulcrum, 2006). Known for his commitment to environmental defense and cultural diversity, Wildcat has been honored by the Kansas City organization The Future Is Now with the Heart Peace Award. His newest book, Red Alert! Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge, will be released later this year.

John Harrington is a professor in the Department of Geography at Kansas State University. His core areas of geographic research are in human-environment interactions, rural and regional geography, physical geography, and geospatial analysis and application.

Harrington’s research interests include climate of the Great Plains, synoptic climatology, climate classification, climate change, human dimensions of global change, ecological climatology, and natural resource applications of remote sensing and GIS.

Harrington earned his doctorate from Michigan State University.

Johannes Feddema is a climate scientist investigating the interactions between human activities at the Earth’s surface and climate. This interest developed at a young age when, growing up in the Europe, Africa and Asia, he observed firsthand the impacts of climate on society. Presently a professor in the department of Geography at the University of Kansas, he obtained a B.A. degree in Biology and Geography, an M.S. degree in Geography and a Ph.D. degree in Climatology from the University of Delaware. Early in his career he used water balance models to simulate climate impacts on water resources, and studied the climate impacts of land-use change and human induced soil degradation. To better understand the feedbacks in the coupled human climate system he began to conduct similar experiments in Global Climate Models (GCMs). He is now working to create models and databases to assess the impacts of anthropogenic land cover change, urbanization and soil degradation on climate in the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Global Climate Models. He has published in a variety of journals including Climate Research, Climate Dynamics, Climatic Change and Science and was a contributing author to the fourth IPCC report. Since 2006 he has held an Affiliate Scientist appointment with NCAR and was recently appointed to the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy advisory group by the Governor of Kansas. He has recently contributed to a report on the potential impacts of climate change on Kansas at http://www.climateandenergy.org/LearnMore/InTheNews/ClimateStudy.htm

Sustainable Communities Panel

Tim Steffensmeier, Ph.D. (Univ. of Texas, Austin), is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Kansas State University. He teaches courses in Leadership Communication, Communication and Democracy, and Rhetorical Criticism. He also serves as a research associate with K-State’s Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy (ICDD). He has published a book, chapters, and essays focused on deliberative democracy, argumentation, and visioning processes. These interests inform his scholarship concerning sustainable community development. Steffensmeier currently works with the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) and Public Square Communities, LLC on civic leadership and community building projects.

Taylor Schmidt

Dorothy Barnett

Workforce Development Panel

Russ Rudy

Caleb Asher

Lucas Chavey

Torry Dickinson

Advancing Sustainability at Your Institution Panel

Ben Champion, Moderator

Don Woodburn is the sixth president in the history of Coffeyville Community College. Prior to CCC, he served as dean of the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture from 1995 to 2004. He earned a bachelor of science degree from Oklahoma Panhandle State University, a master’s degree from Michigan State University, and a doctorate from Colorado State University. Woodburn has been successful as an intercollegiate livestock judging coach, an instructor and an administrator, and has experience working with foundations, grants, distance learning and the development of industry partnerships.

Bob Schmoll has been vice president for finance and operations at Bethany Community College in Lindsborg, Kansas since July 2009. Before that he was executive vice president and chief financial officer at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska. He has more than 25 years of experience in higher education administration. Schmoll earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and German from Dana College and a master of business administration degree from the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

Andrew McGowan is president of Students for Environmental Action at K-State. He is currently a senior majoring in agronomy with a soil and environmental science option. In 2009 McGowan received the Udall scholarship, awarded to students who demonstrate a commitment to a career related to environment protection or to students who are Native Americans or Native Alaskans seeking careers in health care or tribal policy. Last year he studied abroad at the Beijing Language and Culture University of China. McGowan was a member of the 2008 national champion K-State soil judging team.

K-State Sustainability