Hailing from all corners of the country, OE faculty and staff have at the core of their work a deep love for this place and the students that join us here.
THE PEOPLE
WHO WE ARE
Kelton (Tad) Cobb (Ph.D. University of Iowa) joined the faculty of the Oregon Extension in the fall of 2011. He has taught Christian theology, church history, and comparative religions at Wesleyan University, St. Joseph’s University, and Hartford Seminary. He grew up in Colorado, but has led an itinerant academic life in Oregon, New Jersey, Iowa, Germany, and Connecticut. He has published one book called The Blackwell Guide to Theology and Popular Culture, and is currently interested in how Christianity has learned, with great difficulty, to be moral through the hard lessons of its darkest hours. He lives at Lincoln with his two sons.
Megan Butler (Ph.D. University of Minnesota) is excited to join OE as a Visiting Professor of Environmental Studies for Fall 2020. Her research focuses upon international development practice, human dimensions of natural resource management and community environmental stewardship. She is passionate about creating bridges between research and practice and has worked as an organizer and environmental educator in both the United States and Latin America. In her free time, she runs long distances for fun.
Seaton Tarrant (Ph.D. University of Florida) has grown organic food and developed and taught sustainable lifestyle practices for the last twenty years. He is a writer, musician, and social scientist with research experience in community resilience, social justice, theories of empowerment, and sustainability education. He is a certified restorative justice practitioner and an associate editor for the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. He has published on the changing role of civics, new conceptions of critical thinking, systems thinking, and transdisciplinary communication and collaboration. Seaton loves reading, weeding, and spending time in the wilderness with his wife and his two free-range ninja boys.
James W. (Jim) Hood (Ph.D. UNC-Chapel Hill) comes to the OE as a Visiting Professor for Fall 2020 from Guilford College, where he teaches nineteenth-century British literature, American nature writing, and writing courses. He grew up in south Florida, enchanted by birds and the Everglades. Home now is central North Carolina, where he spends his free time walking the woods and hand-crafting furniture. His recent publications include The Ecology of Quaker Meeting (Pendle Hill) and articles on Victorian reading practices.
Star Tarrant (Office Manager and Student Coordinator) Star comes to the OE with a background in event planning, grant writing, and teaching for organic farms and environmental education. Prior to joining the OE, Star initiated and ran environmental education programs for an award winning land conservation trust, and developed outreach projects for an international certifier of organic farms. She is a practicing herbalist, naturalist, and mom. In her spare time Star enjoys wildcrafting, exploring wilderness, yoga, and cooking.
