OUR TEAM
Leaders in environmental education and community-based learning
Bios for staff are being updated. Please check back this week!
Director
Anna Balzer
Serves as the new Director of the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition (SEMIS). In this role she will support the SEMIS team and members to co-create, shape, and implement a collaborative vision for place-based, eco-justice education in the region. Anna will also establish, steward, and deepen connections across the region and throughout a national place-based education ecosystem and help amplify the stories and impact of and bring additional resources to our regional work.
Director of Programming
Lisa Voelker
Lisa’s responsibilities include place-based education curriculum design and facilitation for adult professional development, K-12 teacher curriculum design support and field experience coordination, working with the director to coordinate and support in the supervision of daily operations, and stewarding partnerships with community organizations and members. Email Lisa
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Nigora Erkaeva
Nigora provides assistance in coordination of the daily functions of the organization, works with teachers to incorporate land-based and indigenous cultures curriculum, support on the planning and facilitation of professional development, budgeting, building local and international research community, communications, leads ecojustice sessions, and engages in research to share the impact of our work. Email Nigora
Place-Based Education Specialist
Sarah Halson
Sarah supports teachers in their PBE curriculum planning, specializing in outdoor learning. Sarah also supports planning and facilitation of professional development, provides expertise in guiding new initiatives, classroom content, school inquiry projects, teacher tools and multimedia resources and connecting with our community partners. Email Sarah
Place-Based Education Consultant & Youth Voice Specialist
Willie King III
Willie serves as a Place-Based Education Consultant & Youth Voice Specialist for the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition. In his role, Willie’s responsibilities consist of developing new place-based initiatives for youth activism and civic engagement, developing arts infused PBE initiatives, and cultivating stewardship and art based community partnerships. He also supports planning and facilitation of professional development and provides expertise in classroom content. Email Willie
Place-Based Education Specialist
Laura Florence
Laura focuses on Great Lakes and STEM education and leads our Climate Change Resilience initiative. In this role she provides expertise in guiding us on classroom content, school inquiry projects, teacher tools and multimedia resources, and connecting with our partners. Her responsibilities include supporting SEMIS teachers in expanding their Great Lakes literacy and connecting them to community partners with expertise in Great Lakes science and education.
Ecojustice Education Consultant
Paula Sizemore
A Master Place-Based Educator with 30 years combined classroom, administrative and coaching experiences, Paula’s (pronouns: She/her/hers) role with SEMIS Coalition Paula provides instructional design support, project design, and partnership cultivation, stewardship and collaboration and field investigation coordination. Paula also helps to lead our facilitation during our annual professional learnings series.
Resident Historian on Special Projects
Matt Siegfried
Matt designs and facilitates adult professional development which focuses on social landscape histories, supports teachers in upper elementary through high school to design curriculum, and do historical research. Email Matt
Senior Advisor on Special Projects
Dr. Ethan Lowenstein, Eastern Michigan University COE, Professor Teacher Education
Dr. Ethan Lowenstein is a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education at EMU and recently cycled out of the SEMIS Coalition director position after serving as director for 13 years. As a senior advisor, Ethan will remain as a co-Principal Investigator on current grant-funded projects, helping to ensure a smooth director leadership transition. Ethan is in love with the art of place-based teaching and learning and is excited to devote the next phase of his career to mastering the art of teaching (as much as anyone can!), helping to further develop EMU’s undergraduate place-based teacher preparation program, sharing his knowledge for how to facilitate group processes and systems change, and documenting what he has learned over the years so that others may gain from his experience. Email Ethan
A coalition's primary strength is in its members
Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition is a regional hub of the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative.