East Coast Retreat:
The 2008 NE Fellowship Retreat will be held at
Essex Conference Center & Retreat, Essex, Massachusetts on 09/12/2008

RETREAT SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH

3:00 PM NEW FELLOWS ARRIVE

3:30 – 5:30 PM NEW FELLOWS’ ORIENTATION AND COMMUNITY BUILDING. This session will allow time for welcoming, introductions and community-building exercises for new Fellows, as well as presentation of leadership concepts to be explored throughout the weekend.

5:30 PM CHECK-IN FOR OTHER ATTENDEES

6:00 – 7:00 PM DINNER

7:00 - 8:00 PM SWITZER FELLOW LEADERSHIP GRANT PRESENTATION. Jeanne Anderson, University of New Hampshire: Remote Sensing in Forest Conservation Planning in the Northeast


SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH

8:00 – 8:45 AM BREAKFAST

9:00 – 9:30 AM WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS. Lissa Widoff, Executive Director of the Switzer Foundation, will welcome participants and discuss the agenda for the weekend. Participant and staff introductions will be made.

9:30 – 11:15 AM DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP LEARNING AGENDA. Lissa Widoff will team with Errol Mazursky, Deputy Director of the Environmental Leadership Program, to present an overview of how to create a leadership learning agenda that articulates your professional, personal and career vision and goals, and offer tools for identifying resources to help you meet your goals. There will be small group interaction and discussion of each participant’s leadership goals.

11:30 – 12:30 SWITZER FELLOW LEADERSHIP GRANT PRESENTATION. Kate Smith, Senior Research Scientist, Consortium for Conservation Medicine: Environmental Health and the Exotic Wildlife Trade.

12:30-1:30 PM LUNCH

1:30 – 3:30 PM SWITZER FELLOWS PANEL DISCUSSION: RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE NORTHEAST
Panel Moderator:
Lissa Widoff, Executive Director, Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

A panel of Switzer Fellows in the renewable energy field will speak about their work.

3:30 – 5:00 PM HIKE/NATURALIST WALK - CRANE BEACH, IPSWICH. We will carpool to Crane Beach in nearby Ipswich. Crane Beach is part of a larger protected area managed by The Trustees of Reservations, one of the oldest land trusts in the U.S.

5:00 – 5:30 PM FREE TIME

5:30 – 7:00 PM RECEPTION AND DINNER. We will have a wine and beer reception starting at 5:30, followed by dinner at 6:00.

7:15 – 9:00 PM EVENING PROGRAM - SWITZER FELLOW LEADERSHIP GRANT PRESENTATION. Andrea Johnson, Campaigner, Environmental Investigation Agency. Combatting illegal logging in Latin America.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH

8:00 – 9:00 AM BREAKFAST

9:00 – 9:30 AM LEADERSHIP AND CAREER COACHING: INTRODUCTION TO MENTORING. Foundation staff will present guidance on effective mentoring relationships. Fellows may serve as mentors in the future or may be seeking one in the near term. In either case, understanding the dynamics and responsibilities of both sides of this relationship can improve the value of mentor/mentee interactions.

9:30–10:30 AM LEADERSHIP AND CAREER COACHING: SMALL GROUP MEETINGS. Switzer Fellowship alumni, Foundation staff, and colleagues will lead small discussion groups with new Fellows to discuss career options and potential mentoring opportunities.

10:30 – 11:00 AM PRESENTATION OF 2008 FELLOWSHIP AWARDS

11:00 – NOON KEYNOTE SPEAKER: David Sleeper, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation: “Refusing to Simplify: How Scientists Can Help Shape Public Policy While Remaining True to Their Complicated Calling”

NOON – 1:00 PM LUNCH

1:00 PM DEPART

To get there:

RSVP to: don@switzernetwork.org by

West Coast Retreat:
The 2008 CA Fellowship Retreat will be held at
The Headlands Institute, Sausalito, California on 09/26/2008

RETREAT SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH

3:00 PM NEW FELLOWS ARRIVE

3:30–5:30 PM NEW FELLOWS’ ORIENTATION AND COMMUNITY BUILDING. This session will allow time for welcoming, introductions and community-building exercises for new Fellows, as well as presentation of leadership concepts to be explored throughout the weekend.

5:30 PM CHECK-IN FOR OTHER ATTENDEES

6:00–6:45 PM DINNER

7:00-8:00 PM SWITZER FELLOW LEADERSHIP GRANT PRESENTATION: Amy Rogers, 2005 Fellow, and Peter Pinchot, Director, Ecomadera Project, Pinchot Institute for Conservation. Amy Rogers and Peter Pinchot will discuss their collaborative efforts to ensure the long-term preservation and sustainable management of Ecuador’s last remaining Chocó coastal rain forests. Together, they are working toward conservation solutions by integrating social, science, and policy issues in the two largest reserves of this region. Peter will discuss the successes and challenges of Ecomadera, the Institute’s sustainable wood products microenterprise, and Amy will discuss the interdisciplinary approach required to re-connect the now-isolated Mache-Chindul Reserve to larger forested tracts. Broadly, their respective programs employ economic alternatives to deforestation, experientially-based education, and ecologically-based reforestation as solutions to current and future forest threats.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH

8:00–8:45 AM BREAKFAST

9:00–9:30 AM WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS. Lissa Widoff, Executive Director of the Switzer Foundation, will welcome participants and discuss the agenda for the weekend. Participant and staff introductions will be made.

9:30–11:15AM DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP LEARNING AGENDA. Lissa Widoff will present an overview of how to create a leadership learning agenda that articulates your professional, personal and career vision and goals, and offer tools for and identifying resources to help you meet your goals. There will be small group interaction and discussion of each participant’s leadership goals.

11:15–12:15 SWITZER FELLOW COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVES GRANT PRESENTATION. Elizabeth Soderstrom and Steve Rothert will discuss the project on which they are collaborating with Fellow Katrina Schneider to use FERC relicensing of hydropower dams in the Yuba and Bear River watersheds in California as an opportunity to incorporate predicted effects of climate change on river management.

12:30-1:30 PM LUNCH

1:30–2:30 PM SWITZER FELLOWS PANEL DISCUSSION: RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE WEST
Panel Members:
Cathy Fogel (1997), Analyst, California Public Utilities Commission
Dustin Mulvaney (2004), Envt. and Society Fellow, UC Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
Tom Starrs (1993), Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Panel Moderator:
Jim Downing (2003), Reporter, The Sacramento Bee

2:30–3:30 PM SWITZER FELLOWS PANEL DISCUSSION: INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY
Panel Members:
Jason Selwitz (2006), Director of Service Learning, Green Empowerment
Alex Eaton (2007), Executive Director, International Renewable Resources Institute, Mexico

Panel Moderator:
Lissa Widoff (1992), Executive Director, Switzer Foundation

3:30–5:00 PM HIKE/NATURALIST WALK. Participants can choose to learn about the natural history of the Headlands with a walk led by Fellow Grey Hayes, or to investigate wildlife tracking and sign at the Headlands with Fellow Emil McCain.

5:00–5:30 PM FREE TIME

5:30–7:00 PM RECEPTION AND DINNER. We will have a wine and beer reception starting at 5:30, followed by dinner at 6:00.

7:15–9:00 PM EVENING PROGRAM - SWITZER FELLOW PRESENTATION: Emil McCain (2004), Wildlife Biologist with the Borderlands Jaguar Protection Project. Emil will present ground-breaking research on the jaguar in the southwestern Untied States. McCain is the lead biologist and co-founder of the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project, a small non-profit research organization in southern Arizona. He will discuss a recent publication of his from the Journal of Mammalogy, as well as discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a new approach to collaborative endangered species conservation along the US/Mexico border. McCain will outline the importance of maintaining cross-border connectivity for long-term survival of the wide-ranging and thinly distributed binational population of jaguars. He will stress the fragmentation consequences of the proposed U.S./Mexico border fence to the northernmost jaguar population, and particularly to jaguars in the United States.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH

8:00–9:00 AM BREAKFAST

9:00–9:30 AM LEADERSHIP AND CAREER COACHING: INTRODUCTION TO MENTORING. Foundation staff will present guidance on effective mentoring relationships. Fellows may serve as mentors in the future or may be seeking one in the near term. In either case, understanding the dynamics and responsibilities of both sides of this relationship can improve the value of mentor/mentee interactions.

9:30–10:30AM LEADERSHIP AND CAREER COACHING: SMALL GROUP MEETINGS. Switzer Fellowship alumni, Foundation staff, and colleagues will lead small discussion groups with new Fellows to discuss career options and potential mentoring opportunities.

10:30–11:00AM PRESENTATION OF 2008 FELLOWSHIP AWARDS

11:00 KEYNOTE SPEAKER: JP Ross, VP Strategic Partnerships, Sungevity and Co-Founder Vote Solar

12:30–1:30 PM LUNCH

1:30 PM DEPART

To get there:

RSVP to: don@switzernetwork.org by