Archive: Around Town

Cayuga Nature Center (CNC), named Christine Besemer Whitaker as Director of Nature Center Programs at CNC to help lead the institution in its mission to cultivate awareness, appreciation and responsibility for the natural world through outdoor and environmental education. Ms. Whitaker will be working with PRI and CNC staff to develop a blend of environmental and Earth system education as an outgrowth of the recent approval of the plan to merge CNC with the Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth. The long-term plan is for the education and exhibits staff at PRI and CNC to work together toward synergistic and mutually complementary programs.

The senior staff of PRI, now the parent organization for CNC, chose Ms. Whitaker based on her unique blend of experience in both environmental resource management and education and program development and management. Ms. Whitaker, who has been Teacher Programs Coordinator for PRI since August 2008, is in the process of transitioning to her new position at CNC.  As Teacher Programs Coordinator, Ms. Whitaker worked with teachers from across the country to introduce new technology and region-specific geology to Earth science teachers and their classes through the Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the U.S. project.

In additional to her work at PRI, Ms. Whitaker comes to CNC with many years of experience as an environmental educator and naturalist for organizations such as the City of St. Cloud in Florida and River Ridge Education Center in Tennessee.  She has a Master’s of Science in Environmental Resource Management from Florida Institution of Technology and a BA in Environmental Science from Tusculum College in Tennessee.

A native of Spencer, NY, Ms. Whitaker became interested in environmental science and education to help others enjoy the outdoors as much as she does and see it from a different perspective. “I am very excited about this new opportunity and to be able to combine my love for the outdoors with education and outreach” says Ms. Whitaker.

"We had an outstanding set of candidates and did a very thorough search, and we are extremely pleased to have found someone of Christine’s caliber, right here in our own backyard," said Rob Ross, Associate Director of Outreach for PRI. "There are a lot of facets to this position, and we found that over the past decade Chris has had experience with an unusually broad set of them."

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