Professor, Biological Sciences and Director, Environmental Science and Policy, Cal State Long Beach

Dr. Christine Whitcraft is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and director of Environmental Science and Policy at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB). She currently serves as the co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Sustainability at CSULB. Her major area of interest is coastal wetland ecology, focused on the impact of anthropogenic activities on functioning of brackish and salt marshes. Specifically, she investigates restoration strategies, impacts of invasive plants and climate change-related impacts. She received her B.A. in Biology from Williams College, Williamstown, and Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Her postdoctoral research was a CALFED position at San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve until she started at CSULB in 2008.

Executive Director, Educator Programs and the California Subject Matter Project, Department of Graduate, Undergraduate and Equity Affairs, University of California Office of the President

Claudia L. Martinez is the executive director for Educator Programs in the Graduate, Undergraduate and Equity Affairs Department at the University of California Office of the President, where she provides systemwide support and guidance for UC’s educator preparation and professional development programs, including the statewide California Subject Matter Project. She is a member of the Scientific and Pedagogical Committee for the Office of Climate Education, an international initiative for climate change education. She is currently the UC’s liaison to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, which advocates for Hispanic-Serving Institutions across the nation and is a co-chair of UC’s President’s Chicano/Latino Advisory Council.

Director, Educator and Leadership Programs and Co-Director, Center for the Advancement of Instruction in Quantitative Reasoning, California State University, Office of the Chancellor

Dr. Fred Uy serves both as a director of the Department of Educator and Leadership Programs and Co-Director for the Center for the Advancement of Instruction in Quantitative Reasoning at the California State University, Office of the Chancellor. Before joining the Chancellor's Office, Dr. Uy was a professor of Mathematics Education at Cal State LA and a K–12 mathematics teacher. As director, Dr. Uy is responsible for overseeing and increasing the capacity of the department to provide leadership and support to the educator preparation programs across the CSU’s 23 campuses. He has contributed to CSU initiatives in secondary school teacher mathematics preparation as a trainer for the Early Assessment Program in Mathematics and as a leader of the CSU Math Teacher Education Partnership. Dr. Uy also has served as a mathematics consultant for school districts and publishers and has conducted numerous professional learning trainings in the following areas: mathematics pedagogy, teaching mathematics to English language learners, assessments, linked learning, arts integration and bilingual education.

Education Lecturer, School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA

Jeff Share’s research and practice focuses on preparing educators and university students to teach critical media literacy in K-12 education, for the goals of social and environmental justice. He has worked as an award-winning photojournalist, bilingual elementary school teacher, and since 2007, he has been educating new teachers in the Teacher Education Program at UCLA. Jeff presents at national and international conferences, provides professional learning at schools and writes about critical media literacy and environmental justice. He has trained educators in critical media literacy in the US, India, Iraq, China, Mexico and Argentina. Jeff has published several books, including Media Literacy is Elementary: Teaching Youth to Critically Read and Create Media. Two years later, in 2017, Routledge published Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference, a book that Jeff co-authored with Richard Beach and Allen Webb. Collaborating with Douglas Kellner in 2019, they published, The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education. He recently created new environmental justice and critical media literacy courses at UCLA for undergraduate students as part of the university’s newly launched undergraduate major in Education.

Chief Executive Officer, Ten Strands

Karen Cowe is an education-industry executive with over 30 years of experience in sales and fund development, marketing, program design, professional learning, business development and operations. She is currently the CEO of Ten Strands, a California-based nonprofit focused on strengthening the partnerships and strategies that will bring environmental literacy to all of California’s public school K–12 students. Karen is also the project director for the California Environmental Literacy Initiative, a statewide public-private partnership that was launched in 2016 to advance the environmental literacy of all students in California. Prior to joining Ten Strands, she was president and CEO of Key Curriculum Press, an innovative and award-winning K–12 STEM publisher. Before that she was managing director of Burlington Books in Athens, Greece—the first publisher in Greece to offer locally focused English language instructional materials for Greek students. Karen serves on the board of Cognia and Open Up Resources and on the advisory boards of the Biomimicry Institute and Seventh Generation Advisors. She holds a B.A. in Business and a minor in Education from Saint John’s College, York, and a MBA from Saint Mary’s College of California.

Executive Director, ECCLPs, Director, Science Project, UC Irvine

Dr. Kelley Le previously served as a high school science educator, science specialist and instructional coach. In higher education, she also served as a coordinator, lecturer and program designer for the UC Irvine (UCI) CalTeach Science and Mathematics program. She is currently leading the ECCLPs effort as the initiatives executive director. She also currently leads the UCI Science Project that supports K–12 science educators and leaders to reimagine science education for the 21st century. She also sits on the board of Ten Strands and authored the book, "Teaching Climate Change for Grades 6–12: Empowering Science Teachers to Take on the Climate Crisis Through NGSS" (Routledge, 2021). Her fields of expertise include developing and facilitating programs in the areas of climate change education, environmental literacy, science and equity, nanoscience and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Project Management Consultant

Linda Livers is a project management consultant who supports organizations, projects and individuals in the environmental literacy and climate change education space. Linda has worked with Ten Strands and its partner projects for over six years in many functional roles including administration, advocacy, communications, development, event coordination, executive support, and operations. Linda has a B.A. in Business Administration from San Francisco State University, where she concentrated in Decision Science and General Business.

Professor of Education, UC Irvine

Dr. Richard Arum is a professor of Education, and completed a five-year term in 2021 as dean of the School of Education at UC Irvine. He has served as senior fellow of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and as director of the Education Research Program at the Social Science Research Council. He has a M.Ed. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley.

Sustainability Programs Manager, Capital Planning, Design & Construction, California State University, Office of the Chancellor

Tamara Wallace is the sustainability programs manager with the California State University, Office of the Chancellor. During her 10-year career in sustainability, she has passionately championed the strategic vision of sustainability in higher education with its unique opportunities for driving organizational change through innovative solutions to tackle today’s challenges of a changing climate. Tamara is the project lead for the development of CSU’s Climate Resilient Infrastructure Guidelines and Framework and represents the CSU with the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation. Tamara is an elected member and current chair of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Steering Committee, and successfully advocated for systemwide participation in comprehensive university sustainability benchmarking using the STARS reporting platform. Additionally, she is the co-founder and co-editor for the CSU Journal of Sustainability and Climate Change. Tamara is a double-alumna from Cal State Fullerton, a certified change management professional, and a LEED Green Associate.