Cohort 5
Kerri McAllister EDUCATION • M.S. in Environmental Education University of Minnesota-Duluth • B.S. in Environmental Studies University of Vermont
ENROLLED • Cohort 5
LOCATION • South Burlington, Vt.
Kerri McAllister graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont and holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Education from University of Minnesota Duluth. Taking full advantage of opportunities to study abroad, Kerri spent semesters in both Australia and Belize with The School for International Training. She studied natural and cultural history and co-designed research with educational partners on student retention in Queensland, Australia and pre-service teacher preparation in the Mayan villages of southern Belize. She taught environmental education for fifteen years in a variety of locations including: Shelburne Farms in Vermont, Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Minnesota, The Chewonki Foundation in Maine, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and spent over a decade teaching and leading staff at NatureBridge in California. Kerri has also led international student travel programs in Asia, Africa, Australia, Central America, and the Caribbean and worked in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Middlebury College’s Global Sustainability Program in Kunming, China and The Lake Baikal Ecocentre in Irkutsk, Russia, offering professional learning opportunities with educators and place based education experiences with local schools. Kerri currently serves as the Program Manager at Shelburne Farms in Vermont where she facilitates professional learning and convenes regional networks and collaboratives for formal and informal educators. Her work focuses on climate change education; justice; undergraduate and postgraduate education; place based learning; education for sustainability and developing regional connected learning ecosystems. Kerri is proud to convene and coordinate 60 organizations for collective impact as the Northeast Climate Change Education Collaborative and to serve on the board of the Vermont Education and Environment Network, the state level affiliate of the North American Association of Environmental Education. She has received several awards throughout her career, including the Bishop Marcus Award for Professional Development for which she advanced her skills with American Sign Language at Gallaudet University in Washington DC. She was also honored with the NatureBridge Unsung Hero Award for her commitment and dedication to the organization and the Matthew Baxter III Memorial Award to pursue a dream and push personal boundaries. For this Kerri learned to SCUBA dive and journeyed to South Africa to dive with great white sharks and contribute to research for their conservation. She was selected by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow for excellence in education and was invited on an expedition to the Arctic via Norway and Svalbard to further her climate studies. Recently she joined Lindblad Expeditions for an alumni voyage examining global systems change in the Galapagos Islands. Kerri strives to provide transdisciplinary educational opportunities that inspire curiosity, promote inquiry, and catalyze action. Throughout her work, Kerri strives to codesign learning environments where justice and equity are valued and centered. She is a passionate lifelong learner and educator who embraces the world as her classroom.
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Ed.D. in Educational Sustainability
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