• How long have you been at Oregon State?

Since the end of January 2018, shortly after I moved to Oregon. I’m originally from Connecticut and had spent my entire life in New England before coming to the PNW – I moved here to join my partner (now husband) in Corvallis where he was already working as a consulting forester. This position in the College of Forestry opened up right as I was looking for the next step in my career!

• What do you love about your job?

I’m excited that with this job I get to bring together pieces from a lot different experiences I’ve had in the past. In my first job out of undergrad I was an outdoor educator at a nonprofit environmental center, and most recently I was forest manager for the Yale School Forests. Here at OSU I’m able to draw on that program development, communications, and forestry/land management experience in an entirely new way. I get to meet new people, work on many different types of projects, and engage with the PNW forestry and natural resources community – basically I’m constantly learning and trying to think creatively about how to provide resources to people.

• What do you do when you’re not working?

My husband and I bought a house in the past year so we’ve been doing a lot of projects to make it our own. We have two dogs, and we like to get them out for adventures as often as possible. I’m looking forward to more hiking, rock climbing, and time at the beach. We also like to cook and have a pretty big cookbook collection – right now we have a goal of making at least one new recipe each week.

• What’s your favorite thing to cook?

This summer it was grilled salmon! Simple but classic.

• Read any good books lately?

I’m currently reading East of Eden for the second time – I really like coming back to certain books every once in a while. This is the one that made me a Steinbeck fan.

• What would you do if you won the lottery?

I would do two things. I’d buy some forestland to manage, and probably build a small house on the property. I’d also do some traveling. There are so many places I would like to see in the world.

• What’s the destination on the top of your list?

I have a dream trip of going to Portugal, Spain and Morocco. I’ve also never been to Central or South America.

• What’s your favorite trip so far?

In 2016, I went to Germany and France to do some forestry tours for work and then added a vacation on to the end of the trip. That was a dream come true. My (now) husband met me in Paris, and we got to stay with friends and then travel around Provence and the French Alps. It was an incredible mix of getting to try lots of food, experiencing art that I’d only seen in books, and exploring little towns. We also recently did our honeymoon trip in the Canadian Rockies – the mountains were stunning.