By Lizia Oliveira, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Jane Wilson Eller, executive director of the Kentucky Environmental Education Council, will lead the second of three sessions in the fall 2008 semester Environmental Studies Speaker Series at Campbellsville University.
The session will be Friday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. in the Student Union Building Atrium where Eller will be addressing the importance of environmental education in today’s society.
The Kentucky Environmental Education Council was established to improve Kentuckians’ understanding of their environment through education, communication and information. It promotes a healthy environment by working with schools, colleges and universities, businesses, local governments, private organizations and citizens.
Eller has been serving at the Environmental Council for 14 years. She began her career as a teacher and then assumed the position of associate director at a Public Policy Center at the University of Kentucky. She said she believes that she was hired for the council “on the basis of this background” and also because of her involvement on a Summer Environmental Education Program for gifted middle school children.
As a director of the Environmental Education Counsel, Eller carries out the legislative mandates of the agency under the direction of a group of advisors appointed by the governor. She is responsible for assessing the environmental literacy of the citizens, for bringing outside funding into Kentucky for the council and for creating and implementing strategic plans for improving the environmental literacy of all Kentuckians, which she addresses as her “biggest job by far.”
Also, Eller works to keep Kentucky in the mainstream of national and international developments in the area of environmental education.
Eller grew up in a coal camp in southern West Virginia and came to University of Kentucky where she received a bachelor of arts degree in political science and education, and two master’s degrees in anthropology and social work.
She is married to Ron Eller, who is a history professor at the University of Kentucky.
For more information, contact Dr. Richie Kessler, associate professor of biology/environmental studies program coordinator, at (270) 789-5326 or rkkessler@campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,601 students who represent 93 Kentucky counties, 27 states and 31 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2009 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South for the second consecutive year. CU has been ranked 16 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America’s Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his tenth year as president.