Sightings | Alumni News
Class Notes
David Leatherman MF’74, retired entomologist from Colorado State University, is often invited to speak to community groups about his continuing studies on bark beetles and their impacts on forests.
Wallace J. Nichols MEM’92 has taken a senior scientist position at The Ocean Conservancy. He will continue to collaborate with a range of research and conservation initiatives around the world, including as the principal investigator on the Duke University Project GloBAL bycatch assessment and as president of the International Sea Turtle Society for 2008. Keep an eye out for Nichols’ role in the upcoming documentary film about global warming, “11th Hour”, that is narrated and produced by actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio.
Robert “Kim” Batchelder MF’93 has returned from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico where he worked for The Nature Conservancy. Kim is now a natural resources planner for Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District in California. The district is one of the top five farmland and open space preservation programs in the nation and the first special district established for the purpose of protecting agricultural lands. It is one of the few jurisdictions in the nation to use a sales tax for the purchase of conservation easements to protect agricultural lands and preserve open space.
C. Andrew “Andy” Keck MF’93 recently served as lead technical advisor on sustainable finance under a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded assistance project in Madagascar. He provided assistance to the government in formulating a long-term environmental financing strategy, as well as a wide array of specific environmental financing mechanisms, such as trust funds, the Clean Development Mechanism, and natural resource user fees. Andy has been chief of party (Madagascar) for the International Resources Group in Washington, D.C., for 13 years focusing on international environmental management and sustainable development, and specializing in project management, sustainable finance, climate change, and environmental economics and policy.
Chris Hale JD/MEM’00 is assistant attorney general for the Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean some 500 miles east of the Philippines. Chris has been active in enforcing the Palauan law that makes commercial fishing for sharks and the practice of shark “finning” illegal throughout Palau’s territorial waters and its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
Jill Ozarski MPP’00/MEM’01 accepted the position of executive director for the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts in Denver. CCLT’s primary focus is influencing public policy, increasing awareness of the importance of land conservation and ensuring land conservation excellence. Jill previously worked at The Wilderness Society in Denver.
After three years as a commercial program manager at the Consortium for Energy Efficiency in Boston (with fellow Duke alumnus John Taylor MEM’02/MPP‘01), Rachael Shwom MEM’01 entered Michigan State University’s Sociology PhD program in 2004. There she is an environmental science and policy fellow who conducts research on the dynamics of public support for climate change policies. She spent Fall 2006 in Washington, D.C., at the National Academies of Science, where she was a science and technology policy fellow for the Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change. Rachael lives in Michigan with her husband, Nick Evelich, and their lab/husky mix, Sandy.
Jennifer Atchley Vose MEM’02 and her husband, Wade, are pleased to announce the birth of their baby girl, Emily Kaytlin Vose, born Dec. 11.
Alexa Bach MEM’03 has moved to California to work at UrbanGreen in San Francisco. UrbanGreen partners with legacy land owners, institutions, communities and private developers to provide real estate development and advisory services for successful infill or greenfield development.
Joel Dunn MEM’04, MPP’05 has had two major successes on Capitol Hill this year. First, the bill he helped write for Sen. Joseph Lieberman—the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which provides $100 million over four years for conservation— became a public law. And Congress established the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail in Chesapeake Bay. Joel has been working on this project for two years with Patrick Noonan, chairman emeritus of The Conservation Fund, a member of the Nicholas Institute’s Board of Advisors, and a past member of the Nicholas School Board of Visitors.
Kim Maison MEM’06 has left the mainland to live in Hawaii and continue working for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service as a sea turtle management specialist in the Pacific Islands Region. Kim is part of the service’s research, monitoring, conservation, assessment, and outreach efforts in waters around the Hawaiian Islands and the American Flag Territories.
Deaths
Richard W. Hartwell MEM’86, Nov. 3
James F. Kennek MF’47, Nov. 24
Larry R. Nelson MF’74, Aug. 26
Richard “Dick” Russell MF’63, Feb. 26
Craig D. Whitesell MF’54, June 20
What’s your news?
New job?
New baby?
Professional honor?
Recent wedding?
Your classmates want to know! Send your news (and photos) to: Carol Dahm Director of Alumni Affairs Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Duke University • Box 90328 • Durham, NC 27708-0328 919-613-8001 • E-mail: cdahm@duke.edu