Dr. Baust is the director for the center and also a faculty member of the
Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education in the College of
Education. He has served on the Board of the North American Association for
Environmental Education since 1998 and was president of the organization in
2005.
Dr. Baust has also served as the chair of the Higher Education Commission, chair of the Awards Committee, and co-chair of the NAAEE Committee on Accreditation with the National Council for the Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE). He is a board member and the past-president of the Kentucky Association for Environmental Education. As the chairperson of the Four River’s Watershed Watch, he has directed the sampling of rivers, streams, and lakes in Western Kentucky with more than 60 sample sites to test water quality in the region. He is also a member of the University subcommittee of the Kentucky Environmental Education Council’s Master Plan for Environmental Education and has taught mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, and art throughout his career.
Dr. Baust has been recognized university-wide for outstanding teaching on three occasions receiving the Regents Award, NEA-SP Award, and Student Government Association’s Max Carmen Outstanding Teaching Award. He has been the co-editor of the “Kentucky Council of Teachers of Mathematics Journal” with Dr. Willis N. Johnson and has made numerous national and international presentations that have dealt with the integration of science and mathematics using environmental education. He is a certified facilitator for Projects WILD, WILD Aquatic, WET, Learning Tree, Food Land and People, Archaeology, Adventure Experiences Challenge Course, and the Leopold Project. Recently he earned the Certified Interpretative Guide Credential, and has completed his credential as a Certified Interpretive Trainer from the National Association for Interpretation.
Mr. Brush is the Assistant Director in the Center for Environmental Education. He joined the Center this year after teaching eighth grade science at Graves County Middle School. As Assistant Director, he facilitates graduate and undergraduate workshops in environmental education, conducts and models environmental education lessons in area public schools and participates in certification training for the collection of environmental education curricula.
Brian holds a degree in Broadcast Meterology from Mississippi State University where he was an avid strom chaser and participant in many sucessful trips to the Great Plains. Mr Brush also holds a Bachelor's of Science in Secondary Education with geosciences concentration obtained from Murray State University. Mr. Brush has also been certified in Project WILD, Project WET, Food, Land & People, and Project Learning Tree, he has also become a trained facilitator in Project WILD.
As a teacher, Brian implemented the pedagogy, theories and activities of environmental education in his daily lessons. Mr. Brush currently enjoys combining all of his past experiences with the public school system, the Center for Environmental Education and environmental educators internationally to provide area teachers and colleagues with innovative teaching methods that will support greater student learning and understanding of their surrounding environment.
When he is not at work, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife Jennifer and 1-year-old son, Jeremy. Environmental Science and meteorology is a family affair for Brian and his wife Jennifer Rukavina who is a News Channel 6 Meteorologist.
Ms.Bentley Utgaard joined the staff of the Center for Environmental Education in February 2007. She keeps track of the Center's grant accounts and assists in the Center's daily operations. After receiving her B.A. in English from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Ms.Utgaard worked as an editor, technical writer, library technician, and most recently, registrar for the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, Kentucky.
Ms.Utgaard considers herself a recovering nomad, as she and her husband lived in Illinois, New York, Texas, Montana, and Pennsylvania before landing in Kentucky in the fall of 2004. She is happy to be working with people who are passionate about the environment, and is excited to have the opprtunity to continue her education while doing so.
Ms.Lauren is the resident librarian of the Center for Environmental Education. She is in charge of ordering different materials and entering them into the online checkout system. These materials are available for education students and teachers alike to use in their classroom or assignments.
This semester she is a sophomore at Murray State University majoring in Social Work with a minor in Spanish.
Ms.Heidi is a freshman at Murray State University working on her degree in history. She was pulled to Murray State because of their cheerleading program. She now cheers for MSU. She graduated from Christopher High School in southern Illinois. She is very excited to be working with the Center for Environmental Education, and ready to meet lots and lots of new people.
Ms.Molly Jean Runyon is working in the Center for Environmental Education during her first semester on the Murray State University campus, and is majoring in Wildlife Biology. She is involved in Christ Ambassadors, the Honors Program, and the Wildlife and Conservation Society. Molly is excited about becoming more involved in MSU activities and the opportunity to work with the Environmental Education Department.
Ms. Rogers is the Graduate Assistant in the Center for Environmental Education. While her main roles are environmental education outreach coordinator with area schools as well as organization and instruction of EDU 404/ELE 402 Pre-service activities, she also facilitates undergraduate workshops in environmental education, conducts and models environmental education lessons in area public schools, and participates in certification training for the collection of environmental education curricula.
Ms. Rogers holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Murray State University and is studying as a Post Bachelor’s Student in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Science at Murray State University. She holds a certification in Project WET and will continue her training for more certifications.
Prior to working at the Center, Ms. Rogers was an Apprentice with the U.S. Forest Service at Land Between the Lakes’ Brandon Spring Group Center. While there, she taught numerous environmental education programs in an outside setting, some of which were derived from the CEE department years ago. All programs she taught correlated with the Kentucky Core Content and Tennessee Assessment Standards.
In spring of 2004, Ms. Rogers was an Advanced Intern Education Presenter at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. During this internship, she taught hands-on conservation activities which inspired conservation action as well as engaged guests in self-guided nature discovery.
Presently, Ms. Rogers enjoys combining the knowledge and skills she has gained from all of her past experiences to further the environmental education outreach with area schools as well as to organize and instruct EDU 404/ELE 402 Pre-service activities.
MS.Lauren Lanham is a junior Graphic Cmmunications Management major here at MSU. She is working on a minor in photography. Outdoor, nature photography is what she really enjoys and is her passion. The Center for Environmental Education furthers her love and appreciation for our earth as it helps everyone's involvement in keeping it a "picture perfect" world. She plans on leaving her hometown of Owensboro, KY to travel the world working for an outdoor photography magazine.
Mr.Yogesh Gowda is the WebMaster of the Center of Environmental Education. He is in Charge of editing and updating webpages of Center of Environmental Education and making Movies.
He did his Undergraduate Majoring in Agricultural Marketing in University of Agricultural Science (GKVK) India(Bangalore). Currently he is doing his Masters in Agribusiness Majoring in Agriculture. He is very happy to be working with Center of Environmental Education.
