News
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Introducing HQ’s new part-time office assistant, Bonnie Manwell.
Bonnie will be helping out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She was
a church secretary for years, so she knows how to get things done!
A warm SWG welcome to her.
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| Welcome to New Members: | SWG Newsletters | |
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Niké went on to exhibit her own art, winning the the Biennial Art prize, Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Fiorino d'Oro in Florence and the "Donna del Lazio" for Art in Rome, and a Bronze Medal for etching in Paris. She has had exhibitions in London, Hong Kong, Macau, Turkey, Japan, Italy, France and Australia. She likes to sing sacred music in choirs in Palestrina and Artena. She has composed a piece for 15 instruments, “Tsunami ", which was performed in 2007 at the Sala Paolo Borghese in Artena. With her daughter Flavia they save abandoned animals and cook eastern food.
Prior to joining GAO in 2001, Susan was a partner in private law practice and Special Assistant to the Director of EPA’s Office of Solid Waste. She took a leave of absence from 1999 to 2000 to serve at the National Science Foundation’s research base at the South Pole in Antarctica, as the Station’s winterover Environment, Health, and Safety manager. She maintains an active interest in the polar areas, among many other environments, and is also a member of The Explorers Club. Susan earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School and her B.A. in Anthropology and in Asian Studies from Connecticut College.
Her personal integrity is seen in her courage, resilience, and survival in extreme conditions and adversity. She has approached the Arctic 10 times, Antarctica 7 times and 4 times to the Mount Everest region. Her works shows a true love for the earth and mankind. Rebecca has delivered hundreds of lectures to secondary school students, university undergraduates about her work, adventure and latest scientific findings on the environmental problems. Some over 500,000 students in Hong Kong, Macau and China have attended her talks. They are inspired to take a more serious attitude towards life and to conserve and protect the environment. The community has benefitted tremendously from her public education efforts. She is contributing significantly to the goal of environmental protection. Lang-Hung Nora Chiang (Active Corresponding- Taiwan) is Professor of Geography at National Taiwan University, as well as Associate Dean in the College of Science in that University.She received her B.A. from the University of Hong Kong, her M.A. in geography from Indiana University, and her Ph.D. in geography from the University of Hawaii. She was also, in 2006, a BRCSS Visiting Scholar with a Seriously Asia Award from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2005, she received a Faculty Research Award, International Council for Canadian Studies (York University, Toronto). In previous years she also received a Visiting Fellowship from the National Science Council, R.O.C., and an Excellence in Research Award at the 10th Pacific Science Inter-Congress. In 1998, she was granted a visiting fellowship from the National Science Council, R.O.C., to the East Asian Research Institute at Harvard University. Her recent research has been published in many well-recognized international journals and books on the subjects of transnational migration, feminist geography, sustainable tourism. Her research focuses on women and gender. She was founding Director of the Population and Gender Studies Center at National Taiwan University and, in 2007, hosted a well attended conference of the IGU Commission of Gender and Geography held in Taiwan. Julie A. Eadeh (Active-DC) has been a foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State for six years, serving in some of the most demanding and dangerous posts, including Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem, Lebanon (during the 2006 war), and Iraq.She has been honored as a Presidential Management Fellow, with the State Department Franklin Award, and for four years, with State Department Superior Honor Awards. In 2008 she was American Foreign Service Association Post Representative of the year in Bagdad. She received a B.S. in history from Eastern Michigan University and an M.A. in Arab Studies and Political Science from Georgetown University. She was an intern at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in 1999. She has served as Foreign Affairs Officer in the US Embassy in Riyadh, Political Officer in the U.S. Embassy Beirut, and as Economic Officer in the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, and recently as Assistant Information Officer in the US Embassy, Baghdad. She published chapters in the Encyclopedia of World History-The Contemporary World, 1950 To the Present on the subjects of Wahabism, the King-Crane Commission, King Abdul Aziz, and the United Arab Emirates. She speaks Arabic, French and Spanish. Kaitilin Griffin (Active, NY) is the Park’s Librarian in the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. She received a B.A. From Columbia University in Comparative Literature, and an M.A. from the University of Toronto in Medieval Studies. Previously, she was Project Manager for Parklands (Parkland Acquisition and Jurisdiction) and Environmental Assessment Coordinator at the Parklands Division, Dept. Of Parks and Recreation. She was also a Library Assistant, Burke Library, Union Theological Seminary, NY. She has been a student of landscape and botanical illustration and has a Certificate in Botanical Illustration from the NY Botanical Garden School, as well as a Merit Scholarship from the Art Students League. She has several Certificates from the NY Botanic Garden in training in gardening. She has participated in archeological exploration in Egypt, Turkey, Spain and Central America. She has made various trips to study architecture and botanical and landscape subjects in Italy, Scotland, Wales and England. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Riverside Cafe in Toronto, Ontario, and at the Annex Art Centre, also in Toronto, Ontario. Lisa Alice Howell (Student- UK) is in Tomlinscote School and Sixth Form College- A Levels. Lisa is interested in nature conservation and plans to study geography in university in the UK. She participated in a research project about the reintroduction of wild horses in the UK. She was involved in all phases of the project work, including background research, field questionnaire, field work and data analysis. The video that was filmed of this project will be used by Nuffield in school education programs in how to conduct a research project. Shkulla Khpal (Student- UK) is a candidate for a BSc (2010) in Royal Holloway, University of London. She came from Afghanistan and is interested in how political systems help or hinder development. She hopes to do a Ph.D. related to the politics of Afghanistan and Central Asia. Robin Anne Lewis (student- At- Large AZ) is a candidate for a Ph.D. in Geography with a minor in Global Change (in 2010) at the University of Arizona. She previously received her B.A. and M.A. in Geography and a B.S. in Botany from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. She has received two Fulbright awards, a Fellowship, sponsored by the Malaysian- merican Commission on Educational Exchange and U.S. Dept. Of State, and a Fulbright-Hays Group Study Abroad Grant, Consortium for Teaching Indonesian and Malay-Advanced Indonesian Abroad Program, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga Indonesia. Robin has also received a Pre-Doc Graduate Research Grant from the Social and Behavioral Research Institute and several Graduate Student Travel Awards from the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth and from the Professional Student Council, the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers and from the Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona. She has been Teaching Assistant/ Grader in the Department of Geography and Regional Development at the University of Arizona. For several years she has been a Student Member of the AAG and the Ecological Society of America. She has advanced proficiency in the Indonesian language from study in the University, as well as beginning proficiency in Malaysian from self- uided study. She also is proficient in Spanish. Audrey Meredith Mohan (Student- TX) is a Ph.D. Research Assistant for the Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education in the Department of Geography Education at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. She will complete her degree in Geographic Education in 2009, with a dissertation that explores teacher efficacy in geography teacher education and training. She is working on developing a national, K-12 and post-secondary geography education, geography teacher preparation and efficacy, environmental education, and informal geography education. She has also worked on educational policy initiatives as the Grosvenor Scholar for National Geographic Society, and has worked on the geography curriculum development for the states of Texas and California. Audrey has had teaching experience at the university level in quantitative methods, and introductory regional geography for college freshmen or beginning geography majors, at Texas State University. She has published various refereed papers on geography education from conference proceedings. She has also co- uthored several books and book chapters on geography education curriculum and made many presentations at workshops and meetings in many U.S. cities, Tunisia and Australia. Rong (Tracy) Zheng (Student- UK) s a Ph.D. student at Royal Holloway University of London, concentrating on water use in Beijing and Chonqing. She received a M.Sc. with distinction from that Royal Holloway University and a B.A. From Sichuan International Studies University in China. She plans to return to China to work in an academic department where she can continue to do research as well as teach. She speaks English, German and her native Chinese. Annalise Gomersal Blum (Student- CA) is studying at Stanford University and expects to graduate in June 2010 with a BS in Environmental Engineering. She spent summer, 2008, helping with research on water and sanitation in Tanzania, and is also conducting her own research project on this topic in Ecuador this summer. Annalise is interested in working on international development and public health in the future. |
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In Memoriam: Evelyn Stefansson Neff, 1913 - 2010
She was active in the Polar Studies Program at Dartmouth College and taught its Arctic Seminar for two years. She wrote Here Is Alaska, first published in 1943. In 1964, after moving to Washington D.C., she married John Ulrich Nef and worked to advance the cause of the Chicago University’s John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought. Evelyn was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Alaska, the Corcoran School of Art and Dartmouth College. In 2001 she received the Icelandic Order of the Falcon Medal of Honour. At age 63, after completing training at the Institute for the Study of Psychotherapy in New York, Evelyn began a very successful practice in psychotherapy in Washington, D.C. After her retirement she wrote her autobiography, Finding My Way, the Autobiography of an Optimist. She was a member of the SWG Washington Group, served as President from 1972-1975, and was a generous contributor to the Society. Patricia Suiter, 1923 - 2010 Pat served in the Army during World War II as a crytographer while stationed in China. She was co-founder and administrator of the House of Learning for more than 20 years. She made contributions in the field of education specializing in Learning Disabilities. She co-authored several books, five of which are used as text books in over 160 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Pat was the environmental education chair for the National Sierra Club, Sierra Club Miami and the Tropical Audubon Society. In Miami she was responsible for creating “Wildlife Weekend”, the first festival to bring together local artists and environmental groups with the goal to educate the community about the environment. She was presented with the Sierra Club Miami Green Award for her life-long commitment as an exemplary environmental educator. She joined SWG in 1995 and was active in the Florida Group. Edith M. "Jackie" Ronne, 1919 - 2009
She is the namesake of the Ronne Ice Shelf, (second largest on Earth) which was previously called Edith Ronne Land. Her husband, Finn, who discovered and mapped that previously unknown territory during his Expedition, named it in her honor. Jackie returned several times to Antarctica, including on a Navy-sponsored flight to the South Pole in 1971 (she was the seventh woman at the pole), a 1995 trip back to her former base at Stonington Island as guest lecturer on the expedition cruise ship Explorer, and continued lecturing on cruises for a number of years. She made a total of 15 trips to the Antarctic. She also made a trip to Spitzbergen in the Arctic with her husband Finn, daughter Karen, and nephew Jahn. She was President of SWG from 1978 to 1981, and during her term, she reached out to members, establishing the Florida Group and the New England Group, now known as the Northeast Region of the At-large Group. In 2002, she was awarded the SWG Outstanding Achievement Award for “a lifetime of living on, studying about, lecturing on, and writing about the continent of Antarctica.” Jackie was a fellow of The Explorers Club, an honorary board member of The Antarctican Society as well as The American Polar Society, and active in other organizations, including The National Society of Arts and Letters and ARCS. She received a special Congressional Medal for American Antarctic Exploration. She was the recipient of a special Achievement Award from Columbian College of George Washington University and dedicated a Polar Section to the National Naval Museum. A complete biography of Jackie, Finn, the Ronne family and their many travels can be found on Karen’s website: www.RonneAntarcticExplorers.com Doris Rich, 1921 - 2009
Before moving to Washington, DC, in the early 70’s, she also taught English in Bangladesh and Ghana. At 66, Doris embarked on her career as a biographer; her published works include Amelia Earhart: A Biography and Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator. Her life was chronicled in the first SWG BACKSTORY presented at HQ by Megan Rosenfeld and Ann Hawthorne.
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| SWG Members in the News | ||
| Future Events of Members: | Members Featured: | |
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Niké
Arrighi Borghese 
Susan
D. Sawtelle 
Dr.
Rebecca Lee
(Corres.)
is
Founder and Director of The Polar Museum Foundation Ltd.
Rebecca Lee has transformed herself from a professional graphic
designer, painter, photographer and writer to a polar researcher in
the last 30 years. She is now working closely with polar scientists
in the Mainland to conduct continuous research on the environment.
She is also responsible for publicizing the findings to other
scientists in the world to identify ways to protect the environment.
Pursuit of innovation has resulted in her being recognized as the
first Hong Kong woman explorer to reach the Arctic, Antarctic and
Mount Everest. She has published more then 10 books on her own,
organized educational exhibitions and produced TV documentaries
about the world we live in.
Evelyn was
an author, lecturer, patron of the arts, philanthropist, Arctic explorer and
psychotherapist. In 1941 she married Vilhjalmur Stefansson and worked with him
as researcher and librarian of his extensive polar library until his death in
1962. 
Jackie was
a pioneer in Antarctic history and known as “Antarctica’s First Lady,” also the
title of her book. At the last minute, she went along with her husband, Captain
Finn Ronne, on his private expedition to the Antarctic. On the Ronne Antarctic
Research Expedition of 1946-1948, she became the first American woman to set
foot in Antarctica, and with the wife of the expedition's chief pilot, became
the first women to overwinter in Antarctica. She was the expedition's
recorder/historian. They spent 15 months together with 21 other members of the
expedition in a small station they had set up on Stonington Island in Marguerite
Bay. 
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