The Faculty of Today

Faculty in Environmental and Biological Sciences
Concentrations: Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Environmental Science, Geology and Environment

Tom Ayrsman ’79, Assistant Professor of Botany and Environmental Science. Favorite Course: Vegetation Analysis. Tom continues to replicate museum reproductions of Shaker furniture in his woodshop at home, enjoys organic gardening in the summer, and helps his aging parent and in-laws.

Professionally, Tom assisted in facilitating a national meeting of eight private liberal arts colleges with significant environmental curricula (ECO-8) at Berea College in Kentucky. The colleges included Alaska Pacific, Antioch, Berea, College of the Atlantic, Green Mountain, Northland, Prescott, and Warren Wilson. Presidents, deans of faculty, faculty, and administrative staff met to formalize the consortium and to explore and develop academic programs, share resources and knowledge, and establish collegial relationships to foster environmental leadership and change. Those in attendance from Antioch were President Joan Straumanis ’57, Professor Peter Townsend, Professor Tom Ayrsman ’79, Professor Steve Hoffman, and Community Manager Shalini Deo ’02.

Tom also attended a Midwest Instructional Technology Center (MITC) Short Course at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas in January on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Funding was provided from NITLE (National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education). Tom received national publicity on GIS and Liberal Education from NITLE.

Tom continues research into Glen Helen woody plant morphology, anatomy, and systematic using digital imagery and photomicrography.

Jill Yager, Professor of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Favorite Course: Jill writes: “I like every class that I teach!” Jill recently completed her Fulbright Fellowship in Puerto Mondos, Mexico. During that time, she studied several submerged caves and worked with the local population on conservation/environmental issues. Jill gave the faculty lecture this year. Her lecture was titled “Cave Research with ‘The Enemy:’ A Twenty Year Perspective on Cuba and Its People.”

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