For Immediate Release
May 8, 2012
  

Conservation Education Coordinator Receives President's Award   

   
COLUMBUS, OH - The Environmental Education Council of Ohio (EECO) named Jen Dennison as this year's President’s Award winner. Dennison works for the Ohio Department of Natural Reources' (ODNR) Division of Wildlife and has been Ohio's Project WILD coordinator since 2000.

Dennison has served on EECO's environmental education certification committee from its beginning and also serves as an instructor for the certification program. She provides regular training for EECO's regional directors and assists EECO with production of publications, including Ohio's new Environmental Literacy Plan, which can be found at www.ohioenvironmentalliteracyplan.org. She serves as ODNR's advisor to the EECO board and has been invaluable in helping EECO develop important policies. Most recently, she has made EECO a positive and regular presence on Facebook.

Dennison’s many accomplishments include:

• A monthly education eNewsletter reaching more than  8,000 formal and nonformal educators;
• Managing a network of more than 450 volunteer Project WILD facilitators across the state;
• Managing a successful WILD School Site program with more than 120 schools involved throughout Ohio;
• Host of this past year’s Vernalpalooza training on Ohio vernal pools;
• A blog for general wildlife education updates at www.ohioprojectwild.org;
• Chair of Ohio's efforts to correlate Project WILD, Water Education for Teachers (WET) and Learning Tree to Ohio's academic standards;
• Served on the planning committee for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agency's 2009 North American Conservation Education Conference; and
• Partnered with Project Learning Tree and the Environmental Education Council of Ohio to offer “Integrating Environmental Education and Higher Education: A Comprehensive Symposium for Ohio College and University Faculty,” which is a successful effort to introduce Project WILD into teacher education programs.
• Project WILD is a supplemental curriculum that uses wildlife to teach basic classroom concepts. Dennison hosts educator workshops throughout the year, and she develops and conducts an annual training class for volunteers learning how to facilitate Project WILD workshops on their own.

For more information about Project WILD and other educational programs and materials, visit www.wildohio.com.

Dennison graduated from Kettering Fairmont High School in Montgomery County and received a Bachelor of Science degree from The Ohio State University in environmental education.

ODNR ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR website at www.ohiodnr.com.

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For more information, contact:
Vicki Ervin, ODNR Division of Wildlife
614-265-6325
Bethany McCorkle, ODNR Office of Communications
614-265-6873