SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education Welcomes New Staff Members
The SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education—led by Faculty Executive Director Max Boykoff—recently brought on several new staff hires and faculty associate directors. These positions and roles set the center up for work that aligns closely with ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder’s sustainability education goals, which include the Climate Action Plan (CAP), emphasizing connectivity, communication and coordination across campus. Programming will be flexible and nimble to support a wide range of student, staff and faculty interests and ambitions.
The addition of these new staff members and faculty associate directors at the SPIKE Center will help ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder to excel as a national and global leader in sustainability education, effectively demonstrating to current as well as prospective students across the world that if they want to earn a top-quality sustainability-related degree they should study here at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder.
The SPIKE Center was made possible by a transformational gift from donor Spike Buckley, whose vision emphasizes agility, innovation and student-centered programming. Funds enable the center to launch initiatives that build student capacity, confidence and competence in sustainability. In addition to hiring staff for the new initiative, the SPIKE Center will start to develop student-centered programming, including project-based and experiential learning.
The new staff members are:
Laura Burfield, director of operations
Laura Burfield has over 14 years of experience at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder, where she’s worked with the University Libraries, the Office of Contracts and Grants, and most recently with CIRES. Her work has spanned research administration, financial operations and academic outreach, always with a focus on collaboration, streamlining processes and service excellence.
Toby Murdock, director of partnerships and engagement
Toby Murdock comes to the SPIKE Center from Venture Partners at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder. Prior to that role Toby served as the founder and CEO of multiple technology start-ups, including Kapost, a content marketing software business based in Boulder. At Kapost he led the fundraising of $19 million in capital and drove the growth of the business to over 100 employees and the acquisition of prominent customers such as Salesforce, IBM, Adobe, HP, Dell, GE, FedEx and Microsoft. Ultimately, Murdock steered Kapost to a successful sale to Upland Software.
Felicia Naranjo Martinez, executive aide
Prior to joining the SPIKE Center, Felicia Naranjo Martinez served as executive director of the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence, worked with Advancement and the Industry and Foundations Relations team, environmental studies as the director of special projects and as finance and business operations manager for the Program in Jewish Studies. Naranjo Martinez has managed a portfolio of diverse foreign grant awards that funded multiple programs, projects, and events in the U.S., Europe and Scandinavia.
The new faculty associate directors are:
Phaedra Pezzullo, faculty associate director for faculty engagement
Phaedra Pezzullo serves as the faculty associate director for faculty engagement in the SPIKE Center of Sustainability Education. Pezzullo is a professor and the Kleiman faculty scholar in the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder. She directs theÌýSustainability and Storytelling LabÌýand co-directs. Her latest award-winning book, , draws in part from her podcast, . She has authored, coauthored or coedited nine other books and published widely. Pezzullo is founding co-editor of the University of California Press book series, , editor of the international journal, , and serves as the director of the Graduate Certificate in Environmental Justice.
Warren Sconiers, faculty associate director for curriculum
Warren Sconiers serves as the faculty associate director for curriculum in the SPIKE Center of Sustainability Education. In collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning and faculty in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Sconiers studies how to enhance student engagement and learning in large classrooms through peer collaboration, course community building, and evidence-based pedagogy. Sconiers is an insect ecologist whose research has explored the effects of drought stress, plant physiology and insect species composition. He earned his PhD in entomology at Texas A&M and has held teaching and research positions at North Carolina State University and the University of the Ozarks. At ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder, he teaches and conducts research on arthropod diversity and climate-driven changes in plant physiology at the Mountain Research Station.
Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke, associate director for student engagement
Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke serves as the faculty associate director for student engagement in the SPIKE Center of Sustainability Education.ÌýOsnes-Stoedefalke is a professor of theatre and environmental studies. She is a theatre and performance studies artist/scholar who is active in applied performance and creative climate communication. She engages in performance to co-author an equitable, survivable and thrive-able future for all life and the ecosystems upon which life depends. Her recent collaborations include, , , , various manifestations of climate comedy, and the book .