Connecticut Audubon’s Education Director named to Senator Murphy’s advisory council

CAS Education Director Michelle Eckman, center, helps students identify a specimen. Photo Copyright Connecticut Audubon Society

April 30, 2018 – Michelle Eckman, the Connecticut Audubon Society’s director of education and interim director of the Center at Glastonbury, has been selected by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy for a citizens’ advisory panel on conservation.

As a member of the new Land Conservation in Connecticut Council, Eckman will meet with Murphy quarterly in Hartford to give him and his staff feedback on how he can help open space preservation in Connecticut at the federal level. The 15-person group, which will hold its first meeting in January, will also generate ideas for potential bills for the senator to introduce.

Murphy launched a group of economic advisory councils this month to hear directly from local community leaders to help make progress on various Connecticut priorities in Congress. Murphy invited local experts, business owners, advocates, and others to join these councils. He and his staff will take their feedback and ideas back to Washington.

“Every day, I’m grateful for the feedback I get from Connecticut residents — their diverse opinions and advice make me be a better advocate and a better senator,” Murphy said. “I set up these Economic Advisory Councils to make sure my staff and I are hearing firsthand about the local issues affecting people’s bottom lines across the state.”

As Connecticut Audubon’s director of education, Eckman collaborates with Connecticut Audubon Society staff, local schools and school systems to develop and promote Science in Nature, an outdoor science education program for K-12 students. Her goal is to reach the majority of K-12 students, particularly from Title I schools, in each of our center’s geographical areas.

Eckman joined Connecticut Audubon in 2012. She was an avian field biologist for 15 years before dedicating her career to environmental education. Since then, she has taught middle school science in New Mexico and spent five years as the education manager and director of education for the National Audubon Society’s Mitchell Lake Audubon Center in San Antonio, TX. Eckman was awarded the Tamar Chotzen Educator of the Year award from the National Audubon Society in 2010.

She earned her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. and her M.S. in Biology from New Mexico State University where she was a National Science Foundation GK12 Fellow. She lives in Bridgeport.