On some of the many reasons I'm happy and excited to become Chair of the School of Natural and Applied Sciences (SNAS) at Avila University. #AvilaProud #AvilaSTEM #AvilaSNAS
School of Natural and Applied Sciences at Avila U
(Re)Connecting Wild
The woodland sunflower in full bloom. Look closely and you'll see a native bee (family Halictidae). I promised I'd share some inspiring stories from NACCB2020, so this week I'm embedding the short film (Re)Connecting Wild from NineCaribou Productions. (Re)Connecting Wild documents the efforts of the Nevada Department of Transportation and partners to re-connect an historic... Continue Reading →
Virtual Inspiration
Filmmaker Jake Willers talks about the making of (Re)Connecting Wild at the 2020 North American Conference for Conservation Biology By February of this year, when Covid-19 was just making its presence known in the U.S., my summer calendar was booked. Early June, I planned to attend the Society for Ecological Restoration's (SER) global conference in... Continue Reading →
Words of Courage, Comfort, and Contemplation
Prairie wildflowers brighten the summer months at Jerry Smith Park, Kansas City, MO There are small things I can point to as bright spots inside the pandemic. Among these, I've discovered the pleasure of podcasts. I know: I'm years behind on this one. I'd never listened to podcasts before March 2020, but being away from... Continue Reading →
Summer Escape for $4.99
It's been a while since I've done this. I've decided to run a promotion for my award-winning fantasy trilogy, The Silver Web. For a limited time, you can download the entire set for just $4.99. Each novel is available separately, starting with Eolyn for just $0.99. The trilogy has been published across multiple electronic platforms,... Continue Reading →
When History Repeats
Unknown author - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=774892 A year and a half ago, when travel was still a thing, I had the opportunity to visit the great city of Berlin. While there, I spent an afternoon at the Topography of Terrors Museum. Built on the rubble of the former headquarters of the... Continue Reading →
Black Lives Matter
I've been contemplating what to say here about the national and global outrage expressed in response to police violence against people of color. This is not a new problem for our nation; though like many others, I hope we are at last reaching a new horizon. Rather than indulge in my own take, I prefer... Continue Reading →
Reconnecting
Normally this time of year I would be at my annual Women's Writing Retreat, more affectionately known as Dollbabies Week. Like so many other spring activities and conferences, that plan was washed away by the tide of Covid-19. My literary colleagues and I have organized a remote edition instead. It won't be the same, but... Continue Reading →
Bees in the Time of Covid-19
Life has been transformed in the past couple weeks for pretty much everyone in the United States, and around the world. At Avila University, faculty, staff and students have undertaken a monumental effort to move our entire spring curriculum online. Virtual classes started yesterday, almost all of us wading into unknown territory. On the bright... Continue Reading →
EOLYN available for free download
In hopes of offering more entertainment options for a home-bound public, my women-centered fantasy novel, Eolyn, is now available for free download. You can find Eolyn on Google Books, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo, as well as on Smashwords in both epub and mobi format. Amazon wouldn't let me set the price below 99 cents, but... Continue Reading →
