Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tallie has 15 years of experience as an environmental educator focused on youth and adult conservation education programming, community based science, and justice-
oriented /community-centered environmental education curriculum development. She’s committed to anti-racist/ anti-oppressive education practices that celebrate cultural and community relationships to the land, biological diversity and how those relationships foster possibilities for a more just and sustainable future.

Tallie has a B.A. in Ecology and French from the University of Denver and M.A. in Sustainable Communities (focused on social and environmental justice) from Northern Arizona University. She is currently a graduate student at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec working on a PhD in social and cultural analysis with a research foci on the growing diversity, equity and inclusion movement in environmental education and relationships between environmental education and environmental/biodiversity conservation governance.✉ Email Tallie.

Board of Directors

Our volunteer board sets the course for EENM and connects us with our community. As advocates for environmental education, they do strategic planning, goal-setting and fundraising. Board members serve for two-year terms. If you are interested in learning more about the board, please contact us.

Kelly Steinberg

President
Las Cruces

Kelly is the Director of Education with the Asombro Institute for Science Education and has also worked as an educator for the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program.

Growing up in Los Alamos, NM, Kelly spent a great deal of time hiking, skiing, playing cello, and volunteering at the nature center. In a great combination of her passions, Kelly has even been spotted playing her cello in the bosque!

She graduated from UNM with a degree in Conservation Biology and is currently a graduate student with the Department of Biology at UNM. In 2017, Kelly was named the “Outstanding Environmental Educator” of the year by EENM!

Steve Glass

Vice President
Albuquerque

Steve Glass earned an MS in Biology from NM State University in 1976. After graduation, Steve held environmental virology research positions for ten years in Los Angeles, CA, Chapel Hill, NC and Las Cruces, NM. Between 1989 and 2009, Steve worked with the City of Albuquerque, then with the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, managing programs in regulatory compliance, environmental laboratory, biosolids composting, and constructed wetlands research. In 2009, Steve joined Bernalillo County as Water Resources Planner managing the NPDES Phase II stormwater quality permit compliance program. For ten years, beginning in 2003, Steve represented local governments on the NM Water Quality Control Commission by gubernatorial appointment. Steve retired from local government in December 2011 and now teaches classes in biology and environmental science at the Central New Mexico Community College. In addition to his continuing representation of Bernalillo County on the interagency Water Protection Advisory Board, Steve has been a member of the Bernalillo County Open Space Master Naturalists Program Advisory Committee since its inception.

Steve has also served four years as President of the Open Space Alliance, a non-profit friends group supporting the Albuquerque Open Space Division and has been Chair of the Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) Board for fifteen years, and represents seven SWCDs on the NM Soil and Water Conservation Commission by gubernatorial appointment. In 2016, Steve was named as a Dr. Richard W. Becker Excellence in Environmental Education Awardee!

Vanessa Barela

Secretary
Albuquerque

Vanessa has been with the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center since 2017. She has 7 years of classroom teaching experience with many ages, with her primary focus on 6-12thgrades in Science, Mathematics, Technology, and Engineering. Vanessa earned a B.S. in Basic Science with Technical Writing, and in Environmental Engineering, from New Mexico Tech in 2008.  She later obtained an alternative teaching license and an M.S. for Teachers focused on Geology in 2010. She has worked at schools in New Mexico and Colorado, and as a summer camp instructor for the NMMNHS. In 2014, Vanessa earned her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in Science.  She became the Academic Services Director for the statewide virtual school IDEAL-NM, managing 53 teachers, 159 virtual instances, and a virtual school. She has taught a wide variety of science classes formally and informally, and loves to create a connection between all science subjects for students.

Vanessa also has received private funding to take students on field trips, companies to pay for trips, and donations to the schools. As a Treasurer of NMT’s Expeditionary Association for four years; Vanessa ran and organized backpacking, camping, hiking, and snow camping trips for students. Vanessa is also a member of the National Hispanic Environmental Council as a role model, leading experiments in water testing and ecological diversity. Vanessa loves to focus on project-based learning, exploratory learning, and in-depth science with students of all ages. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, biking, cross-fit, power-lifting, and hanging out with her dogs.

Ryan Pemberton

Treasurer
Las Cruces

Ryan graduated from the University of Georgia in 2012 with a dual degree in Wildlife Biology and Forest Management, then again in 2014 with a Masters of Natural Resources in Environmental Education.  While in Georgia, he worked with several elementary schools to make Environmental Education more accessible to teachers and more teacher friendly to encourage a greater use of tools such as Project WET and WILD in classrooms.  Ryan also delivered quality EE programs to K-8th students as an Environmental Education Specialist at a local nature center, and worked with high school students as junior naturalists to develop their public speaking skills and conservation spirit.  Since moving to New Mexico and working for the Asombro Institute, he has been an integral part of developing several K-12 programs that focus on connecting what students learn in the classroom to the Chihuahuan Desert that surrounds them, and spreading the message of environmental education to students all over southern New Mexico. In 2018, Ryan has been named a North American Association for Environmental Education Community Fellow and we look forward to learning from his fellowship experience. 

Marcia Barton

Member at Large
Santa Fe

Colleen Langan-McRoberts

Member at Large
Albuquerque

Colleen has served as the City of Albuquerque’s Open Space Superintendent since 2018. In this role, she oversees over 29,000 acres of open space. She also serves as the President on the Board of Directors for the Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs, a not-for-profit organization that supports Master Naturalist programs throughout the country. She also manages the Bernalillo County Master Naturalist program, which has received state and national recognition.

Colleen received a Bachelor of Science from the Department of Education at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1999 and a Master’s degree in Environmental Education through UNM’s Master’s International Program. She served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer for three years in the Republic of Philippines. Next, Colleen worked as a research assistant for the World Wildlife Fund and then as the Growing Native Program Director at Potomac Conservancy in the Washington DC area. She returned to New Mexico in 2008 to work for the community in her as open Bernalillo County Open Space Coordinator. She created the Open Space Program, providing resource-based recreation and environmental education opportunities for the public at large.

Allison Martin

Member at Large
Belen

I have been interested in getting kids outside my entire life. I always did my best learning and understanding of the world around me through place-based experiences that I could not only relate to as a child and now adult, but connect with right in my own backyard. I knew this was something I needed to share with others throughout my life. My experiences over the past ten years as a park ranger, education specialist and now as an education manager along with having an MA in multicultural curriculum, environmental education, and primary education, have helped me find new and exciting ways to connect with all students as well as empowering teachers to teach environmental education.

One of the most rewarding opportunities that has allowed me to expand on projects and opportunities locally and across the state of New Mexico has been being a part of the 2020 Fellowship program through EENM. These connections and opportunities to lead environmental education efforts have allowed for internal and external growth in my career to develop new and exciting ways that have led to new opportunities for environmental education in my community. This incredible opportunity to be on the Board of Directors for Environmental Education will not only help me leverage my abilities to expand on partnerships and projects, but also to drive new, innovating ways to create lasting change in equitable access to the outdoors through systems change in environmental education for the benefit of every student, teacher, parent and community member throughout New Mexico and beyond.

Shantini Ramakrishnan

Member at Large
Las Vegas

Shantini builds capacity of New Mexican youth to lead the conservation of local landscapes through the Conservation Science Center @ Highlands University, based at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute. She develops place-based outdoor learning programs to build pathways in STEM disciplines, which combined with mentorship, leadership development and resilience strategies, encourages persistence among students of color in STEM. She has been working in northern New Mexico since 2012, and has experience in protected land management, habitat restoration, disease ecology, and community engagement. She holds an MS in Life Sciences with a concentration in Biology from New Mexico Highlands University, a BS in Zoology from Southern Illinois University, and a BA in Mass Media from Mount Union College. She serves as a board member with the High Plains Grasslands Alliance and Hermit’s Peak Watershed Alliance, an outreach committee member with Albuquerque Wildlife Federation, and served in the inaugural cohort of Fellows with Environmental Education New Mexico.