 Local Fisherman - Asuncion Area |
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 Coatis - Common Near Brazilian Border |
Local Fisherman - Asuncion Area |
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Coatis - Common Near Brazilian Border |
Director |
ECHO
is managed by Dr. Ralph Nelsen, CEC's executive director. He has conducted
several past and present intercultural/ international programs, including
four Group Projects Abroad projects. Dr. Nelsen assumed full-time leadership
of CEC in 1983 following an eight-year tenure as a full professor at Portland
State University. Previously, he was a teacher, department head, and
program director with the Portland Public Schools for nineteen years.
A former Fulbright Scholar who lived two years in northern Finland, Dr. Nelsen has been involved in Baltic studies since the early 1960s. He has traveled extensively in Baltic countries and has led numerous projects in the region for American educators interested in international/ intercultural studies. He has also traveled privately in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Scotland, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Switzerland. He has worked extensively with international/ intercultural studies personnel in the United States and Finland and authored a text, The American Scene, used in English language and American Studies classes in Finland. In 1997, Dr. Nelsen was received as a Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland by the government of Finland in recognition of three decades of contributions to Finnish education and Finnish-American relationships. |
 Staff Assistant |
Ms.
Deborah Nyman, CEC's Special Events Manager, has arranged many of the details
for the summer program. Ms. Nyman has had great experience in this
role, having served similarly during the course of CEC's most recent ECHO
projects in the eastern Baltic area in
1999 and 2001. She has also coordinated several
domestic science and math programs and conferences and was the program assistant
for CEC's 1995-1997 overseas activities in Finland and Estonia, conducted
as part of the Cooperative Activities to Support Environmental Studies
(CASES) project.
She has also been the summer institute coordinator for other CEC projects, including Staff Development to Support Student Achievement, Gender Equity in Math and Science, Cooperative Activities to Support Environmental Studies, Science Improvement Through Environmental Studies, Facilitating Adaptive Science Curriculum,Gender Equity for Gifted Elementary Students, Technological Applications in Mathematics and Science, and Technological Enhancement of Science Education Leadership. |
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Dr. Michael Odell,
Director of Science/Technology Education, will serve as site coordinator
at the University of Idaho. An experienced K-12 classroom teacher,
Dr. Odell has worked with both K-12 school districts and higher education
agencies in developing reform-focused science curriculum and aligning these
curricula with national standards and state frameworks for science.
Dr. Odell is a certified trainer for both GLOBE and the NRC National Science
Education Standards. During a two-year assignment as a NASA Space
Grant Fellow, he served as the science standards specialist for NASA's systemic
programs in education and as as a consultant to the Education Division's
in-service and pre-service teacher education programs.
He has been the principal investigator or principal consultant on many federal and state grants supporting technology and science education in the classroom and led a variety of state, regional, and national workshops on hands-on science and technology. |
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Ms. Donna Rainboth
is a natural resources specialist and director of environmental education
projects at Eastern Oregon University. Formerly education coordinator
with the U.S. Forest Service's Blue Mountains Natural Resources Institute,
she is acknowledged as one of the Northwest's leading experts on environmental
programming for K-12 students. In 1993 she received Oregon certification
in integrated science and biology and has since conducted numerous workshops
for pre-service and in-service teachers wishing to upgrade their environmental
education understandings and skills.
Ms. Rainboth has worked closely with CEC in the course of the 1999 ECHO program and also in two recent EPA-funded projects, Learning About Biodiversity (LAB) and Science Improvement Through Environmental Studies (SITES), serving as the principal instructor in both. She has developed an integrated, cross-grade environmental studies scope-and-sequence which has been introduced in seven western states and was implemented in Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, California, and Montana. |
 North Central ESD Coordinator |
Clyde Carpenter
is the science and technology coordinator for the North Central Education
Service District in Wenatchee, Washington. In this capacity, he is
responsible for professional development and curriculum improvement activities
in twenty-nine school districts. A veteran Northwest educator, Mr.
Carpenter has been a classroom teacher, a department head, program administer,
and consultant. He has received many professional awards, including
the Washington States Outstanding Young Educator Award, the Washington State
Outstanding Secondary Educator Award, and the national Presidential Award
for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.
From 1995 through 2000, Mr. Carpenter worked with CEC staff as a member of the Regional Advisory Eisenhower Science and Mathematics Consortium for Northwest Schools (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington) and as coordinator for the Northwest's twenty-four Eisenhower National Clearinghouse Access Centers. |
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Dr.
James Connett will serve as the project's on-site coordinator. A career
educator, Dr. Connett worked as a social science teacher and staff developer
in the Wichita, Kansas schools for more than thirty years before retirement.
He did most of the research for his doctoral dissertation in Paraguay and
has lived in that nation extensively since 1995. He is very well-connected
with educational, environmental, and governmental agencies and personnel
and by all counts is an ideal choice to serve as the "bridge"
between American participants and Paraguayan resource providers.
He has traveled extensive in South America and Europe and served as the Assistant Director of CEC's 1990 Group Projects Abroad program in Hungary. |
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Ms. Lourdes Schmitz will serve as ECHO's in-country assistant and interpreter. She will accompany the project throughout its time in Paraguay, providing "troubleshooting" assistance and provide geographical, environmental, and cultural background observations." As well as speaking her native Spanish and Guarani tongues, Ms. Schmitz has an excellent command of English and has traveled frequently in the United States and Europe. She will also afford such support as: 1) liaison with local contacts throughout Paraguay; 2) problem-solving in any mix-ups at hotels, restaurants, museums, etc.; 3) arrangements for individual and small group excursions; and 4) consultations with group members regarding content background for web guide projects.
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