Staff
CSE Staff:
-
Monica Day
Executive Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Environment
Director of the Whitehouse Nature Center
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: 517-629-0582
-
Dr. Thomas Wilch
CSE Faculty Director
In addition to serving as the faculty director for CSE, Dr. Wilch teaches courses in Sustainability Projects, Introductory Geology, Geomorphology, Regional Field Geology, Glaciers and Climate Change, Geologic Field Methods, Oceans and Atmospheres, Geological Hazards, and Volcanology.
Office: Palenske Hall 026
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: (517) 629-0759
CSE Internal Advisory Committee:
-
Joseph Lee-Cullin
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environment
Dr. Lee-Cullin teaches upper-level courses in Groundwater, Geomorphology, Regional Field Geology, and Field Camp.
Office: Palenske 122
-
Trisha Franzen
Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Office: Robinson Hall 201A
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: (517) 629-0535
-
Allison Harnish
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Anthropology and Sociology
Alli is a cultural anthropologist specializing in rural livelihoods, international development, and human-environment relations. She earned a Ph.D. in anthropology as well as a graduate certificate in gender and women’s studies from the University of Kentucky after completing a B.A. in anthropology and sociology at Western Kentucky University. Prior to coming to Albion, Alli was a part-time instructor at Transylvania University and co-organizer of the annual Dimensions of Political Ecology (DoPE) Conference on Nature/Society in Lexington, KY. Her teaching integrates economic, ecological, and feminist anthropology. Her research, which has been externally supported by the Fulbright program and the National Science Foundation, explores the gender and age dimensions of development-induced migration, environmental change, and wildlife management in Zambia. Alli teaches Native North America, Africa: Peoples and Cultures, The Global Politics of Nature, Violent Environments, and Theory and Method in Anthropology.
Email: [emailprotected]
-
Sheila Lyons-Sobaski
Professor of Biology, Department Chair
Dr. Lyons-Sobaski is an molecular ecologist whose research utilizes both field and molecular genetic techniques to investigate the ecology and evolution of plant populations. In particular, she is interested in how gene flow maintains genetic variation within isolated plant populations to better understand the ecological patterns and evolutionary processes which structure them. Her dissertation research was a comprehensive study of gene flow and its influence on the genetic structuring of a regionally-endangered annual plant,Sabatia campestris(Gentianaceae). This research was important because, at the level of an individual, she empirically demonstrated the significance of the soil seed bank in conserving genetic variation ofS. campestris(Prairie Rose Gentian) over time. In addition to studies of local gene movement, she has explored regional genetic differences for Prairie Rose Gentian by comparing peripheral populations, those located at the edge of a species range, with centrally located populations where the species is common.
Her current research includes studying the population genetics of Marsh Pink,Sabatia angularis, which is state-threatened in Michigan. Dr. Lyons-Sobaski is investigating the importance of peripheral populations, populations at the edge of a species range, by comparing the genetic variation of peripheral populations where the species is rare with core populations where it is common. She is working with students to understand the genetics of local population of Wild Rice (Zizania palustris) and ways to control the invasive plant, Mile-A-Minute Weed (Persicaria perfoliata) in Michigan.
Office: Putnam 264
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: 517-629-0649
Sustainability Council:
The Sustainability Council is a college-wide committee representing a wide range of interest groups. The council promotes sustainability, resiliency, and environmental justice within the College and in relation to the broader Albion community.
-
Thomas I. Wilch
Faculty Director for the Center for Sustainability and the Environment, Professor of Earth & Environment
Dr. Thom Wilch is a Quaternary geologist who specializes in glacial geology,physical volcanology, and paleoclimate history. Two current research projects focus on using volcanic records to reconstruct the history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. He is on the ANDRILL project research team and is a PI on research funded by the NSF. Paul Roberts ’07 and Meagan Bosket ’09 accompanied Thom as student researchers on recent research expeditions to Minna Bluff, Antarctica. In addition to his Antarctic research, Thom has an ongoing field-based fluvial geomorphologyin in south-central Michigan.
Dr. Wilch teaches upper-level courses inGlaciers and Climate Change,Geomorphology, Volcanology,Regional Field Geology, andField Camp.
Office: Palenske Hall 026
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: (517) 629-0759
-
Amanda Ewers
Director of Finance
Office: Ferguson 225
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: 517-629-0302
Fax: 517-629-0661
-
Allison Harnish
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Anthropology and Sociology
Alli is a cultural anthropologist specializing in rural livelihoods, international development, and human-environment relations. She earned a Ph.D. in anthropology as well as a graduate certificate in gender and women’s studies from the University of Kentucky after completing a B.A. in anthropology and sociology at Western Kentucky University. Prior to coming to Albion, Alli was a part-time instructor at Transylvania University and co-organizer of the annual Dimensions of Political Ecology (DoPE) Conference on Nature/Society in Lexington, KY. Her teaching integrates economic, ecological, and feminist anthropology. Her research, which has been externally supported by the Fulbright program and the National Science Foundation, explores the gender and age dimensions of development-induced migration, environmental change, and wildlife management in Zambia. Alli teaches Native North America, Africa: Peoples and Cultures, The Global Politics of Nature, Violent Environments, and Theory and Method in Anthropology.
Email: [emailprotected]
-
Sheila Lyons-Sobaski
Professor of Biology, Department Chair
Dr. Lyons-Sobaski is an molecular ecologist whose research utilizes both field and molecular genetic techniques to investigate the ecology and evolution of plant populations. In particular, she is interested in how gene flow maintains genetic variation within isolated plant populations to better understand the ecological patterns and evolutionary processes which structure them. Her dissertation research was a comprehensive study of gene flow and its influence on the genetic structuring of a regionally-endangered annual plant,Sabatia campestris(Gentianaceae). This research was important because, at the level of an individual, she empirically demonstrated the significance of the soil seed bank in conserving genetic variation ofS. campestris(Prairie Rose Gentian) over time. In addition to studies of local gene movement, she has explored regional genetic differences for Prairie Rose Gentian by comparing peripheral populations, those located at the edge of a species range, with centrally located populations where the species is common.
Her current research includes studying the population genetics of Marsh Pink,Sabatia angularis, which is state-threatened in Michigan. Dr. Lyons-Sobaski is investigating the importance of peripheral populations, populations at the edge of a species range, by comparing the genetic variation of peripheral populations where the species is rare with core populations where it is common. She is working with students to understand the genetics of local population of Wild Rice (Zizania palustris) and ways to control the invasive plant, Mile-A-Minute Weed (Persicaria perfoliata) in Michigan.
Office: Putnam 264
Email: [emailprotected]
Phone: 517-629-0649