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Mentor and Staff Profiles

Dudley J. Raynal, Distinguished Teaching Professor and Dean of Instruction and Graduate Studies

Dr. Raynal has been a member of the Faculty of Environmental and Forest Biology (EFB) at ESF since 1974 and served at the Assistant, Associate and Professor ranks before being named Distinguished Teaching Professor in 1992. He regularly teaches Systematic Botany which involves the identification and classification of flowering plants, and Plant Ecology. During summers, he teaches field biology at the Cranberry Lake Biology Station in the Adirondack Mountains. Dudley’s research focuses on plant life history investigations, population ecology, community development, and ecosystem dynamics. With his students and colleagues he has contributed more than 80 scholarly and scientific papers in the ecological literature.

Dudley received a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Clemson University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1974. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has been recognized by the Society of Sigma Xi, Syracuse Chapter, with the Outstanding Faculty Research Award. He was recently named Fulbright Senior Scholar, lecturing in environmental biology at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. He mentors several graduate students and has been Graduate Director in EFB. He has served ESF faculty governance including a term as Executive Chair of the ESF faculty, chair of the public service committee, and chair of the committee on instructional quality. He enjoys reading, hiking, and gardening.

Dudley, with Chuck Spuches, is cofounder of the ESF in the High School program. He provides leadership to all aspects of the program and its participants.

Charles M. Spuches, Associate Dean

Dr. Spuches is Associate Dean for Educational Outreach, Instructional Quality Improvement, and Instructional Technology. Current projects include ESF's strategic planning initiative, Daring to Dream. Chuck also serves as an adjunct associate professor in the Syracuse University graduate program in Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation where he teaches traditional classroom and online courses on educational project management and planned change, and serves on and chairs doctoral dissertation committees.

Chuck holds a doctorate in education from Syracuse University. He attended Harvard University’s Institute for the Management of Lifelong Education, and the Wharton School/Institute for Research in Higher Education Executive Education Program. He served two three-year terms in the SUNY-wide Faculty Senate as Senator and co-chair of the Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies Committee. He currently serves on the screening panel for the Hesburgh Award

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for Faculty Development to Enhance Undergraduate Teaching and Learning, sponsored by TIAA-CREF, and on the editorial review board of the journal, Innovative Higher Education.

Recent publications include Building on style for more effective relationships and results (with R. Diamond, 2002) in Field Guide to Academic Leadership published by Jossey-Bass; Teachers and Scholars as Designers: The Art and Practice of Instructional Design (2002) in Essays on Teaching Excellence, a publication of The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education; and Focusing on process to improve learning: A case study of instructional research and development (with J. Coufal, 2000) in Innovative Higher Education.

Richard E. Beal, Educational Outreach Associate

Dr. Beal works on all aspects of ESF in the High School and other ESF educational outreach programs. He teaches an ESF environmental science course, Global Environment (EFB 120) and serves as one of the principal science mentors for ESF in the High School teachers. Rick's most recent publication (with Heidi Busa and William Beal) is An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Hudson River Watershed, a collection of environmental science instructional units. He is currently developing, Sustainable Communities, supplementary curriculum materials that focus on ESF's long standing commitment to a sustainable future.

Rick has worked at ESF on projects involving Biophysical Economics and simulation modeling. He participated in committees that developed both the Urban Ecology minor as well as the Urban Ecology course. He has a lead role in educational outreach programs that focus on enriching science teaching and learning for urban and minority students, including the ESF Environmental Challenge science fair for Syracuse City School District students. Rick serves on the advisory panel for the NOBEL project (Neighbors Organizing for Better Environmental Learning), and serves on the Project Watershed board of directors.

Rick is a graduate of Wilson Magnet School in Rochester, New York. He received a B.S. degree in 1991 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Buffalo in 1997. He was a Peace Corps teacher in Eritrea (East Africa) from 1997 to 1998. Rick is an avid soccer player and coach.

Jo Anne C. Ellis, Senior Assistant Librarian, Moon Library

Jo Anne received a Bachelor of Arts degree (dual major in German and library science) in 1971 and a master's in library science in 1972 from Syracuse University. She has worked in several Central New York libraries, and has been at ESF since 1998. Her current position includes cataloging, reference service, and teaching an undergraduate course on information literacy. Jo Anne provides mentoring to ESF in the High School adjunct instructors in the areas of research strategies and use of the ESF library and its online library information system.

Patrick Lawler, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies

Professor Lawler is the Director of the Writing Program at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In addition, he teaches a drama writing course for LeMoyne College, and a fiction and poetry writing courses for Onondaga Community College. Pat is active in the community. He was a leader in the development of the Liverpool Girls Softball League's Field of Our Own project, and he received the 2001 LGSL Distinguished Service Award.

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Pat has authored two collections of poetry A Drowning Man is Never Tall Enough, published by the University of Georgia Press (1990) and (reading a burning book), published by Basfal Books (1994). He has been awarded fellowships by the New York State Foundation for the Arts (1989&1999), the National Endowment of the Arts (1991), and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts (2001). In addition, he has had poetry and fiction appear in over seventy-five different journals including American Letters & Commentary, American Poetry Review, Baybury Review, Central Park, The Iowa Review, Ironwood, Many Mountains Moving, Red Brick Review, Shenandoah, Nimrod, Northwest Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Sou’wester.

Pat's two most recent poetry collections Feeding the Fear of the Earth and Breathe a Word of It are scheduled to be published in 2002 by Mitki/Mitki Press. Pat had been the recipient of the ESF Undergraduate Student Association’s Distinguished Teacher Award.

Robert Malmsheimer, Assistant Professor of Forest Policy and Law, and ESF Pre-law Advisor

Dr. Malmsheimer teaches Introduction to Legal Processes, Environmental and Natural Resource Policy, The Law of Natural Resource Administration, and Natural Resource Law. His research focuses on how laws and the legal system affect forest and natural resource management. He also serves as ESF’s Prelaw Advisor. In 2001, Bob was the recipient of the ESF Undergraduate Student Association’s Distinguished Teacher Award.

Bob received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from SUNY ESF in 1986 and a

J.D. from Albany Law School in 1989. He practiced law in Buffalo, NY for six years. Bob returned to ESF and completed his Ph.D. in Forest Resource Management in 1999. Bob is a member of the New York State Legislative Commission on Rural Resources’ Timber Theft Advisory Committee, and is a member of the New York Society of American Foresters’ executive committee.

Benette A. Tiffault, Instructor, Environmental Studies

Currently in her tenth year at ESF, Benette teaches writing and public speaking courses at the college. She recently developed a service learning component to a technical writing class, where her students mentor middle school students at Shea Middle School (Syracuse City School District). Benette designed and taught a literature of nature course offered through the SUNY Learning Network. Coordinator of ESF’s Writing Resource Center, Benette received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999.

Benette holds a B.A. from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and an M.A. from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. She is a doctoral student in S.U.’s Cultural Foundations of Education program. Benette has published six children’s books as well as adult fiction, and she was head writer for a nationally-broadcast children’s television program, Pappyland, which TV Guide named as one of the “Ten Best New Kids’ Shows” in 1996.

Jane M. Verostek, Senior Assistant Librarian

Jane has worked at ESF as a librarian since June 1998. She has been actively involved with assisting students with research needs by working with students at the library's reference desk, teaching an information literacy course, and guest

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lecturing about the library's resources in other ESF courses. Jane also works on operational aspects of the library and maintains software and hardware computer support for staff and public computers in the library. Jane provides mentoring to ESF in the High School adjunct instructors in the areas of research strategies and use of the ESF library and its online library information system.

Jane received a B.S in Environmental Science from ESF in 1992, and a master's in library science in 1972 from Syracuse University. In the past, Jane has held positions at the Syracuse University Law Library, ERIC (The Educational Resource Information Center), Gaylord Brothers and local Onondaga County public libraries. Jane's interests include crafts and antiques - especially those with local Syracuse ties, as well as an enjoyment of baking and cooking.

Thomas E. Amidon, Paper Science & Engineering

Dr. Amidon is chair of the faculty Paper Science & Engineering. Prior to joining ESF, Tom was with International Paper at its Corporate Research Center.

James M. Hassett, Environmental Resources and Forest Engineering

Dr. Hassett is chair of the faculty of Environmental Resources and Forest Engineering. Jim was recently honored by the State University of New York for excellence in research in science, engineering, and medicine

Sharon Weis, Administrative Assistant

Sharon provides administrative support to all areas of the Office of Educational Outreach, Instructional Quality Improvement, and Instructional Technology Services.

Sharon assists in the coordination of all aspects of the ESF in the High School program, and is the principal liaison between ESF in the High School teachers and students for registration, campus visits, and related administrative matters.

Sharon holds a bachelors degree in sociology from St. Lawrence University. Earlier in her career she was a methods analyst with MONY (Mutual of New York) and, in recent years, worked extensively for the Liverpool School District.

Developing Students and Citizens… ESF in the High School