College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Community Sustainability

I am a fifth-year PhD candidate pursuing my degree in Sustainable Tourism & Protected Areas Management. My current research is a collaborative endeavor with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division, where we aim to understand visitor use on areas that are traditionally managed for wildlife and wildlife-based recreation throughout the state.

 

My expertise and areas of interest are social-ecological systems in fish and wildlife, human dimensions of wildlife management, social theories in protected areas, and sustainable visitor use and recreation management.

 

I hold a BS in Wildlife & Fisheries Biology and a minor in Forestry from the University of Vermont, and a MS in Parks, Recreation, & Tourism Management from Clemson University. My MS thesis work was a National Science Foundation-funded project where I used GIS to understand of the influence that naturalness has on middle school students’ learning outcomes during environmental education field trip programs throughout the United States. I also completed two terms of service with AmeriCorps and the Student Conservation Association in between my BS and MS, where I was an Environmental Educator throughout New York State, and a Land Steward, Outreach, and Research Assistant at Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve in Poughkeepsie, NY. Presently, I serve as the CSUS Graduate Student Organization Coordinator, as well as the Graduate Student Liaison/Representative to the Board for the George Wright Society.

 

Outside of my academic work, I do pottery, love gardening, cooking, birding, botanizing, hiking/backpacking, canoeing, beekeeping, trashy reality TV shows, chicken tending, and being Poppy Seed Bagel Kiewra-Cummins’ parent/legal guardian.