Lauren Orme, the Inclusive Recruitment and Retention Manager for NAU’s School of Forestry, has been invited to speak at the Arizona Association for Environmental Educators (AAEE) annual conference this September. Lauren’s position with the School of Forestry is funded through the US Forest Service and Arizona Wildfire Initiative to help advance diversity and inclusive practices in natural resource management.
When she initially began her work, Lauren sought feedback from School of Forestry students on what they needed from her in this newly created role. One thing that stood out was the need for greater visibility of underrepresented communities in natural resource management careers. So, Lauren began reaching out to the natural science community. She interviewed a wide range of people with diverse cultures, identities, backgrounds, and life experiences. The result is the Career Spotlight Project, which now lives on the School of Forestry’s Inclusivity and Equity web page.
Career paths are rarely linear, and Lauren has enjoyed hearing the stories of a wide variety of people at work in nature. This collection of articles and media celebrates the expertise, motivations, and perseverance of underrepresented communities in natural science careers, and invites them to share encouragement and advice for future generations. Lauren has been inspired and humbled by these stories, and is proud to share this work with the greater community of Arizona Environmental Educators this fall.
If you are at AAEE, come say hello, Lauren and the School of Forestry will have a table with cool info on degree programs and career opportunities at NAU!