From the warm sands of the Gulf of Mexico to the frigid shores of the Bering Sea, Laura has lived and learned in a diversity of landscapes and cultures. As a geographer, ethnobotanist, and wilderness educator, Laura has sought to understand how humans have come to make sense of the world around them, be it through storytelling, backcountry field experiences, plant medicine, folk arts or spiritual rituals. Laura’s graduate work in Geography with a focus in the Circumpolar North and ethnobotany, explored the intimate relationships between arctic women and wild berries. While at Sterling, Laura has instructed field courses in the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada, arctic Labrador, Alaska and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. When not in the field, she has taught classes in Cultural Ecology, Storytelling, Ecology, Research Design and Writing. In these courses students have explored and questioned what they know about the world- how did it come to be, what forces hold it in place, how can they live in accordance with such forces, and how can they authentically articulate their evolving understandings of the world around them.
Profile
Award | Institution |
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MA in Geography | Prescott College |
BA in Environmental Studies and Adventure Education | Prescott College |
Presentations |
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“Ethnobotany and Circumpolar Food Sovereignty”- Kuskokwin Campus, University of Alaska, 2013 |
“A Berried Geography: Fruit from the Circumpolar North” – Vermont Folk Life Symposium, 2013 |
“Food from the Land: Berries of the North” – Center for Circumpolar Studies, Hardwick, VT, 2012 |
“Northern Ephemeral Mapping” – The Northeast Association of Experiential Education, Amherst, MA, 2011 |
"A Storied Landscape: Ethnobotany of the Circumpolar North” – Kuskokwim Campus , University of Alaska, 2011 |
“Toponyms, Songlines and Story Mapping of Northern Cultures” – Snow Walker Rendezvous, Fairlee, VT, 2010 |
“The Pre-history of Nordic Skiing” – Snow Walker Rendezvous, Fairlee, VT, 2010 |
“Gender and Leadership in Outdoor Education”- Northeastern Camp Consortium, 2010 |
“Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Alaskan Beluga Whaling Committee” – Northern Studies Lecture Series, 2009 |
“ The History of Alaska’s Kayaks”- University of Alaska’s Outdoor Adventuring Slideshow Series, 2009 |
“The Klondike Gold Rush and Early White-water Rafting”- University of Alaska’s Outdoor Adventure Slideshow Series, 2009 |
“The Changing Geography of the North American Arctic”- Prescott College Geographic Society, 2007 |
“The Influence of Climate Change in the North American Arctic” – Mobile Sierra Club, 2006 |
Publications |
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A Berried Geography: Circumpolar Understandings of Empetrum nigrum, Rubus chamaemorus, and Vaccinium vitis-idaea - JSTOR |
Three Books You Recommend?
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
Kiki: Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime: A New Guinea Autobiography by Albert Maori Kiki Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods by Shawn Wilson
Laura's Recent Blog Posts
Sterling College Earns a Top Spot in Sierra’s “Cool Schools” Ranking for Sustainability
Sterling College was again awarded a spot in the Top 20 in Sierra magazine’s “Cool Schools,” the recently released ranking of the greenest colleges and universities in North America….
View moreSterling Earns Ten-Year Reaccreditation from NEASC
Sterling College has been granted ten-year full accreditation renewal by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). “The affirmation that’s been provided by the NEASC accreditation team reflects…
View moreIn Memory of Tom Shamrell ‘83
In Memory of Tom Shamrell ‘83 Written by: John Gelwicks, Grassroots Class of 1981 Tom Shamrell ’83 passed away on March 12, 2020. He leaves behind his beautiful wife Edith…
View more