Selena D. Cozart is the Lead Consultant with Strategic Diversity Concepts and serves in the same capacity for the University Action for Racial Equity Initiative in Charlottesville, Va., a project housed in the Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Dr. Cozart has over fifteen years of facilitation and program evaluation experience with a primary emphasis on diversity and community capacity development. She also brings a rich background in Education, ranging from secondary through graduate school, which includes teaching, student academic advising and mentoring, and higher education administration experience. Dr. Cozart holds three degrees from the University of Virginia: a B.A. in English Language and Literature, an M.T. in Secondary English Education, and a Ph.D. in Educational Evaluation. In addition to her work as a diversity consultant and facilitation expert, Selena serves as the Resident Services Manager at Piedmont Housing Alliance, a non-profit which focuses on creating affordable housing opportunities in the Central Virginia region.

Professor, Extension Specialist and Director of the Center for Economic Education at VT, Mike has been teaching environmental economics, environmental ethics and environmental theology for 24 years. Mike participated in the Kellogg Foundation’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute at the University of Kentucky. He served on the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Environmental Education and drafted the final report. Mike has received four major university teaching awards, including the Congressionally-Sponsored USDA National Award for Teaching Excellence for all fields of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Human & Veterinary Sciences. Mike serves as Special Assistant to the Provost for undergraduate education.

As Manager of the Office of Environmental Education, Division of Administration at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Mike’s focus is on leadership for natural resources. In his 20 years at the Virginia Department of Forestry, he led Strategic Planning efforts within the Department and has been a trained facilitator since 1987. He serves on many collaborative efforts such as the Farmland Preservation Task Force, Virginia Forestry Water Quality Task Force, Nonpoint Source Advisory Council, and Coastal Zone Management Policy Team. He is a graduate of the Covey Leadership course and Virginia Leadership Institute.

Christine Muehlman Gyovai is the Principal of Dialogue and Design Associates and an Associate at the Institute for Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia. Ms. Gyovai is certified in mediation and permaculture design, and has over ten years of experience in facilitation and training with a focus on increasing community and environmental sustainability. She holds a M.P. in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Environmental Studies from Burlington College. Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Gyovai directed a nonprofit organization, Communities United for Sustainable Progress, and has done facilitation, mediation, and taught environmental education in San Luis Obispo, California. More information about Dialogue and Design Associates may be found at the website: www.dialogueanddesign.com.

Karen Terwilliger has worked with a diversity of municipal, state and federal government agencies across the country as a natural resource manager, strategic planner, facilitator and project coordinator for 30 years.  She has worked on global issues with the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and as a NATO fellow on Sustainable Management of Coastal Ecosystems for15 years.  Karen served on multiple federal, regional, and state natural resource committees, boards, and wildlife recovery teams and has been an active leader in her professional societies and conservation efforts.

Karen coordinated VA’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program for 15 years before starting her own consulting company.   Terwilliger Consulting, Inc. serves both private and public landowners, agencies and organizations as facilitator, planner, project manager and coordinator for a diversity of projects and processes targeting effective conservation communication and synergy.  Among Karen’s personal and professional goals is to reconnect people and nature for positive change and stewardship of our precious natural resources. She received her B.S. in Wildlife Science from Purdue University and M.S. in Biology from Old Dominion U.  She is an alumni Fellow of the Virginia Natural Resource Leadership Institute and completed mediation training from IEN and the Mediation Center of Charlottesville.

Kristina Weaver is a facilitator, project manager, researcher, and writer with over a decade of international experience in collaborative problem solving and community participation. In addition to providing group facilitation and strategic planning, she has designed a number of trainings for grassroots organizations. With expertise in the fields of racial and environmental justice, Kristina’s research focuses on the interface between protection of natural resources and preservation of cultural values, and the conflicts that can arise when these two goals are not met. Kristina spent a year with IEN as a Scholar in Residence prior to joining the Institute’s facilitation team. In addition to her work with IEN, Kristina teaches geography, writes creative nonfiction, and handles grant writing and facilitation for the Local Food Hub, a nonprofit leader in local food system development. Kristina has also worked in higher education and the corporate world. An alumna of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship program, Kristina holds a joint Ph.D. in Geographical & Earth Sciences and English Literature, as well as master’s degrees in History of Science and Creative Writing. She completed her graduate studies at Glasgow and Cambridge Universities after graduating summa cum laude from Yale. Before moving to Virginia, Kristina lived and worked for several years in Europe and West Africa.