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The
National Environmental Education Advancement Project (NEEAP) supports the
development and expansion of quality environmental education (EE) programs
through a variety of state and local capacity building efforts. Many NEEAP
efforts encourage the development and implementation of Comprehensive
Environmental Education Programs at the state and local levels.
Background
Since 1993, NEEAP's unique niche in the field of EE has been to research and
provide programs about and for EE leaders working to build the infrastructure
for environmental literacy. NEEAP's
state capacity building programs have partnered closely with leadership teams in
21 states and have included the Demonstration
States, EE 2000 States, EETAP
States and Challenge Zone
programs. EE leaders from all 50
states and Puerto Rico have also been supported through NEEAP's referral and
resource services and through joint efforts with NAAEE to provide Leadership
Clinics and conference workshops on planning, networking and professional
development for state capacity building.
At
the local level NEEAP coordinated the Community
Outreach Project for EE, an outreach project piloted in five diverse
Wisconsin communities, and is currently working together with two other national
partners in three communities across the nation in the Demonstration
Communities Project.
Growing
out of our state and local programs are research and feature articles, training
and organizing manuals, web resources, an organizational assessment tool and
other custom-designed resources specifically geared to those interested in and
working to build EE capacity at the local, state, regional and national levels.
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Partners
(these links will open an additional window into a different
website)
Organizational
Association of Supervision and
Curriculum Development (ASCD)
North
American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)
EE-Link
(Environmental Education on the Internet)
Northern Illinois University
National Project for Excellence -
Guidelines
for Excellence
Project del Rio
(PdR)
Project
Learning Tree (PLT)
Project
WET (Water Education for Teachers)
World
Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Funding
United States Environmental Protection Agency
(US EPA)
Office
of Environmental Education
University
of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP)
College
of Natural Resources (CNR)
Environmental
Education and Training Partnership (EETAP)
Past Funding
National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
National
Wildlife Federation (NWF)
Wisconsin
Environmental Education Board (WEEB)
The
Tides Foundation
National
Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF)
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Staff Bios
Dr. Richard Wilke,
Director (rwilke@uwsp.edu)
Rick Wilke is a University of Wisconsin System
Distinguished Professor of Environmental Education in the College of
Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.
Dr. Wilke served as Associate Dean of the College of Natural
Resources for 15 years. As Associate Dean he was responsible for
administering the academic program of the largest undergraduate natural
resources college in the nation. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in
Resource Management and a Ph.D. in Environmental Education.
Dr. Wilke currently directs the
U.S.
EPA�s National Environmental Education Training Program. Through
this program, Wilke coordinates the efforts of 11 national partners who
provide environmental education training to tens of thousands of
educators every year. Wilke is also the co-founder and Director
of the National Environmental Education Advancement Project.
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Abby Ruskey, Co-Founder
(amruskey@earthlink.net)
Abby
Ruskey, M.S. is the co-founded of the National EE
Advancement Project.
While at NEEAP, Abby enjoyed leading teams in the development
of research projects and custom designed services for EE capacity
building and in writing publications and articles as well as designing
and leading workshops for public use of these services.
Abby is currently the Executive Director of the Environmental
Education Association of Washington (www.eeaw.org).
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Jeremy Higgins, Outreach Specialist
(jhiggins@uwsp.edu)
Jeremy is the main point of contact between NEEAP and
the EETAP States Program project managers. He is also helping develop a
database of environmental education capacity building resources that
will be featured on EE-Link, as well as the NEEAP website. Jeremy enjoys
many hobbies including canoeing, backpacking, hunting, fishing,
photography, woodworking and nature journaling.
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Amy Kowalski, Communications Specialist
(akowalsk@uwsp.edu)
Amy has been part of the NEEAP team since May
1997. Starting as the Administrative Assistant, she maintained all of the
NEEAP budgets as well as performed regular office duties. Amy moved to
part-time status after her first child was born and has been working on
projects such as the NEEAP website, newsletter, Leadership Clinic
Manual, Leadership Clinic Design Workshop, and National Leadership Clinic,
as well as assisting with other office needs. Her personal
interests include spending time with her family, playing guitar &
singing, photo scrap-booking,
crocheting, playing softball & volleyball, skiing (downhill and
water) and snowboarding.
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Amy
Heart, Administrative Assistant
(aheart@uwsp.edu)
Amy Heart has served as
NEEAP�s Administrative Assistant since January 2002. She is responsible for the
day-to-day administrative duties and maintains financial information. Amy also
provides communication services, including press releases and other promotional
media. Amy works closely with staff and our EETAP States. Amy is a graduate of
UW-Stevens Point, with a BA in Communication. She serves on the Stevens Point
Area Co-Op Board of Directors and works on various issues with other community
groups and activists. Amy recently ran for mayor and state legislative office.
She is also on the Board of Directors for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.
She enjoys mountain biking, and is in her second WORS (link to
www.wors.org) racing season
with the local Point Pursuit
team. She also enjoys playing music, cross-country skiing, and volunteering for
Jazzsides at the UW-SP radio
station, 90FM (link to
http://www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/wwsp/)
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