The Environmental Education Association of Illinois' awards program exists to recognize and encourage excellence in the field of environmental education. Please take a moment to nominate a deserving fellow environmental educator for next year's awards (see bottom of page). Nomination forms are always available on this website and are due each year in November.

AWARD WINNERS

Malcolm D. Swan Award for Outstanding Service
Presented for long-term, outstanding service and contribution to the field of environmental education in Illinois. The Malcolm D. Swan Award is the Association's most prestigious honor. It is intended to recognize the efforts of those people who have had a large-scale impact in the field. These efforts may have taken the form of publications produced, legislation created, facilities developed, innovative curricula or programs developed, leadership provided to supporting organizations, funding acquired, or any other major contribution to the field.

2006 Recipient: Nan Buckardt - Environmental Education Manager, Lake County Forest Preserve District - Deerfield, IL
The amount of Nan Buckardt's accomplishments in the field of environmental education surely spill far beyond the time in which they have occurred. Nan began working for Lake County Forest Preserve District over 20 years ago. Her duties now as manager have her overseeing many of the programs she formerly developed and implemented. Beyond her career, Nan has been tirelessly involved in the advancement of environmental education. Since 1984, she has held nearly every post possible within EEAI. She was instrumental in the development of the IL EE Advancement Consortium (IEEAC ), Environmental Literacy for Illinois (EL for IL), Tools for Non-formal In-service Providers, and EE Leadership Clinics; which have all come to be models for the nation in terms of advancing the field. Nan has presented before conferences throughout the country, she has successfully acquired grant monies for environmental education on behalf of the state, she has represented environmental education as a delegate to IL Conservation Congress leading to the adoption of the EL for IL Plan, and she has developed award-winning environmental education programs that include the all-important evaluative component that tells us if our programs' goals are being met. In addition, Nan is recognized as a long-range thinker who is continually tapped for strategic planning efforts because of her excellent listening skills and her "capacity to motivate as well as empower other environmental education professionals." Finally, Nan is known to her friends and colleagues as being "at all times genuinely concerned about those around her." What more can we ask from the very best in our field. Nan Buckardt personifies outstanding service through her dedication to spreading her rare and special talent for setting our standards high and then teaching us to meet them.

2005 Recipient: Angela Smith- Director & Naturalist Sugar Grove Nature Center - McLean, IL
2004 Recipient: Mary Rice, Environmental Education Coordinator and Naturalist Schaumburg Park District's Spring Valley Nature Sanctuary.
2003 Recipient: Kathy Andrews, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Springfield, IL.
2001 Recipient: Suzanne Saric, US EPA Region 5 Environmental Education Program Manager, Chicago. IL

Environmental Educator of the Year (Two Categories)
This award is intended to give recognition to the efforts of those delivering the environmental education message to the public. These nominees may have developed an innovative special event, reached a record number of people (students), written quality brochures, trail guides, curricula, implemented creative classroom projects, or produced an outstanding audio-visual program. This person or group may be "just doing their job" but are doing it so well as to deserve recognition from EEAI.

Formal Educator (PreK-College): Presented for outstanding, ongoing effort in infusing environmental education into teaching.

2006 Recipient (Formal): Dr. Marylin Lisowski - Professor, Eastern Illinois University, College of Education - Charleston, IL
Dr. Marylin Lisowski is more than Environmental Educator of the Year, but rather of the Decade! She is a true environmental educator having taught all ages, all backgrounds, and in all settings. On top of that, her efforts are multiplied with her focus on pre-service educators. Dr. Lisowski is a professor of science and environmental education at Eastern Illinois University. She has been a member of EEAI since 1987 and spent 13 years as a board member. Anyone who has been involved in environmental education in the state of Illinois is familiar with her unparalleled efforts. If you are most fortunate, you have experienced one of her myriad classes, programs, activities, or international field excursions to locales like the savannas of Africa or the glaciers of New Zealand. She is known for spending "endless amounts of time in preparing for class and has programs that are pedagogically impeccable in both content and in theory." Marylin is the perfect role model to all environmental educators developing and implementing lessons that reach each of our unique learning styles. Yes, her primary avenue is strict science-based, research-oriented projects - after all, she is a published author of biology and environmental science textbooks. But to participate in one of Dr. Lisowski's hands-on programs leaves the learner not with a sense of being science-educated, but on the contrary, invigorated and inspired. She is an environmental education treasure. With almost 40 years of EE experience, 19 of those in Illinois, Marylin's "life mission is to bring others to an awareness of the world and their place in it and to help build a spark that could lead others to be proactive and cognitively engaged in working for the environment."

2005 Recipient: Renae Frigo - Naturalist Supervisor/Interpreter St. Charles Park District
2004 Recipient: Jill Carter, Instructor and Science Department Chair Pekin Community High School.
2002 Recipient: Anita Scott, Teacher/Director Friendship Corner School- Schaumburg, IL
2001 Recipient: Rick Livesey, Herscher High School, Herscher, IL

Non-Formal Educator (Staff/volunteers working at nature centers, conservation/agriculture agencies, parks, zoos, museums, etc.): Presented for exhibiting innovative and exemplary effort in providing environmental education opportunities for general audiences.

2006 Recipient (Non-formal): Tara Wisnewski - Environmental Education Specialist, Forest Preserve District of Will County - Mokena, IL
From environmental education for school and scout groups to workshops and in-services for teachers, Tara Wisnewski is on the front line. Tara has been with the FPD of Will County since 1998. In that time, among her many district programs, she designed teacher workshops on the development of schoolyard habitats, she lead eco-trips to Isle Royale National Park, she created a two-day workshop connecting art and nature, and she developed birding workshops for adults culminating in field trips to see sandhill cranes and bald eagles. She has taken the Audubon Birdfeeder Challenge to a higher level in Will County by revisiting classrooms three times to teach about birds, feeding, and data collection. Tara is currently serving as a Regional Director for EEAI. As a regional director, she is leading a project to record the history of environmental education in Illinois, in addition to her other tasks. Tara's counterparts on the board recognize her as "always prepared to dive into complex issues with a positive attitude." She was co-chair of the program committee for the 2002 Midwest EE Conference. Together, this committee located and scheduled over 60 concurrent sessions, keynote speakers, field trips, morning activities, and evening entertainment. Most importantly, Tara is viewed by her local school districts as a dedicated educator and advocate for nature leaving students with a "greater understanding and respect for nature and their surroundings."

2005 Recipient: Sally Patterson- Education Coordinator & Naturalist Abraham Lincoln Memorial Garden - Springfield, IL
2004 Recipient: Janet Hawes-Davis, Environmental Education Coordinator Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
2002 Recipient: Sarah Livesay, Champaign County Forest Preserve District (CCFPD)-Champaign, IL.
2001 Recipients: Jill Stites and Char Heckel of the Crane Chronicle Development Team, Lake County Forest Preserve District, Deerfield , IL

 

2001 EEAI Outstanding Service Award:

Cathy Cunningham, Champaign, IL