Jay Baker is an interdisciplinary artist from Colorado and New Mexico. He holds a BA in Visual and Performing Arts with emphases in creative music and film studies from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. After graduating in 2012, he has worked as a member of various artistic communities in New Mexico such as Basement Films and The Roost Creative Music Series. Throughout this time he has also created music and visual art under the pseudonym Tom Foe. His artwork has been published and shown in UNM’s Blue Mesa Review, UCCS’s riverrun, Basement Films’ MadLab Series, OSU’s Sound Box Three, and more. His studies at OSU revolve around creative residency programs, land conservation, social/environmental justice, and the relationships between them.
Sarah De La Rosa holds a BA in Political Science and a Masters of Public Administration. She has served in the U.S. Army since 2004, as both a Combat Medic and a Signal Officer, in a variety of positions and locations, including working with the Department of State’s U.S. AID and the military-military advising detachment of the U.S. Army. During her work with domestic and foreign government and non-government agencies, she developed a strong passion for the plight of refugees and a strong awareness of how the pending climate crisis will disproportionately affect those communities. Her work with the OSU EAH program will focus on policy and legislative advocacy for rethinking the immigration and refugee admittance process for the U.S. in a way that is more humane, sustainable, and transparent for both the newcomers and the communities who are receiving them.
Emma Deane completed her BS in Environmental Science with a specialization in environmental education from Oregon State University in 2021. Emma’s passion for environmental and outdoor education prompted her decision to pursue a master’s degree in Environmental Arts and Humanities. She also has interests in environmental justice and advocacy. Outside of the classroom, Emma represents OSU as a student-athlete on the women’s soccer team. She will finish out her final two years of eligibility as an intercollegiate student-athlete while in the EAH program. Upon graduation, Emma plans to pursue a career as a professional soccer player, in environmental or outdoor education, or both!
Olivia Goodfriend initially explored her love of art and science through studying both dance and biology at the University of Florida. After graduating in 2017, Olivia worked as a project coordinator and biological scientist for a Wildlife Ecology lab, where she realized she has a passion for science communication. Following that passion, Olivia joined the Environmental Arts and Humanities program where she seeks to integrate her love of performance art and biology in order to discover new and creative ways of communicating science with the public.
Haley McKinnon is a native Oregonian, a writer, and an animal lover. She received a BA in Creative Writing from Pacific University in 2018, and is interested in science communication and sociological approaches to environmental issues. Along with an MA, Haley is pursuing a graduate certificate in Wildlife Management with a focus in marine mammal conservation. Ultimately, she hopes to work closely with marine biologists, policy experts, and climate change scientists to create comprehensive understandings and solutions to negative anthropogenic influences on the ocean and its inhabitants.
Jordan Laughlin
Anita Spaeth is an interdisciplinary artist and arts-integrated environmental educator based in Oregon (currently residing on Kalapuya land). She/they graduated with their bachelors from Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR) in 2018 with an emphasis in book arts, ecology, and poetry. When not teaching or making, Anita is passionately learning land restoration practices, organic farming and animal husbandry while working towards their dream of cooperatively running a farm & artist residency in the Oregon Coastal range. Anita is currently a graduate student at Oregon State University in the Environmental Arts & Humanities program. She has worked in creative and educational contexts with PNCA (OR), OCAC (OR), OMSI (OR), The Girl Scouts of North America, and Islandwood (WA).
Ali Trueworthy completed her BS in mechanical and ocean engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2017 and decided to continue her studies in engineering as a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at OSU in Fall of 2018. Inspired by the ways of thinking and creating that she learns from the arts and humanities and motivated by the possibilities of blending disciplines, Ali joined the EAH program officially in the Fall of 2019. Ali does deign engineering research and science communication for the Pacific Marine Energy Center and is interested in engineering practice in the context of the climate emergency and ways we can create technologies that maintain our bond to place, encourage diversity, and preserve productive human and non-human relationships.
Anthony Vitale received a B.A. in Environmental Geography from Kent State University in Ohio where he studied wildlife conservation and land-use change. His professional work as an environmental consultant and later as a journalist exposed him to many unique and insightful people with very different perspectives on the world around them. Within the Environmental Arts and Humanities program he seeks to integrate and build upon these experiences by developing a greater understanding of the nature-human relationship and progressing his communication skills.