Baylor Johnson - Director/ Faculty
315 229-5015

Course: Philosophy of the Environement

Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Outdoor Studies and the Adirondack Semester. In philosophy his principle interests have been in environmental philosophy, and free will and responsibility. He is also a lifelong mountaineer, rock climber, backpacker, skier, and general outdoor enthusiast. He has backpacked and climbed in the eastern U.S. as well as the Rockies, Sierras, Cascades, Swiss and French Alps, and the Himalayas. He was a principle founder of the St. Lawrence University Outdoor Studies Program, including the Outdoor Program and the Adirondack Semester. Among his publications are: The Spiritual Benefits of Wilderness, Ethics in a Tragedy of the Commons, and The Case for the Global Commons, with Faye Duchin.

Marianne Dawson - Assistant Director/Instructor

Course: Cultivating Place: Bioregionalism and Community Engagement

Marianne joins the Adirondack Semester with an incredible amount of enthusiasm for the learning opportunities that such a program provides for the students. She received her B.A. in Geography and a HB in Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism from Lakehead University. After a few years in the field, Marianne's passion for teaching brought her back to Lakehead University to complete an education degree. Marianne brings a wealth of field and teaching experience having spent the last six years working for Outward Bound Canada, Hurricane Island Outward Bound, and the National Outdoor Leadership School. This work has found her running programs throughout North America in some of the most inspiring landscapes, from the Rio Grande in Texas to the Bonnet Plume in the Yukon. When she's not working for the Adirondack Semester, Marianne can be found in Nelson, BC substitute teaching and partaking in the never ending endeavor for the perfect powder run.

Steve Alexander - Assistant Director/Instructor

Course: Cultivating Place: Bioregionalism and Community Engagement

Steve joins the semester as an alumni of both St. Lawrence University where he received a BS in Geology and of the Adirondack Semester, where he was a member of the inaugural program. He has spent the last few years gaining experience and knowledge as a natural science apprentice with the Rocky Mountain Semester, an instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School, and as a faculty member at the Teton Science Schools in Jackson, WY. Steve is currently working on his MS in Science Education at Montana State University. He comes to the semester with a wealth of energy and exciting new ideas. When not working hard to make this semester a great experience for everyone he can be found on the river.

Glenn Harris - Faculty

Course: Land Use Change in the Adirondacks

Glenn received his undergraduate degree in geology from Wesleyan University, a master's degree in environmental science from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, and a PhD from the College of Human Development at The Pennsylvania State University. He teaches courses on the health effects of pollution, land-use planning, and the foundations of environmental thought. His research specialties are environmental history and policy, and he enjoys integrating the theoretical with the applied. An avid hiker, he loves to teach outdoors. One of his courses is based entirely on fieldtrips and was highlighted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, a major publication about trends in college education. A member of numerous professional and community organizations, including the Adirondack Research Consortium and the Town of Lisbon Planning Board, he has keen interest in the Adirondack Park and the St Lawrence River Valley.

Mary Hussmann - Faculty

Course: Creative Expressions in Nature

Writer and teacher Mary Hussmann, associate professor of English, received her MFA from the University of Iowa and specializes in creative nonfiction and nature and environmental writing. She teaches courses in creative nonfiction, nature and environmental writing, poetry writing, and environmental autobiography, as well as teaching off campus in the Adirondack semester program and being the faculty advisor for the Stump, a student-run alternative magazine.
She has co-edited a book called Transgressions: The Iowa Review Anthology of Innovative Fiction, and has published essays, poetry, book reviews and interviews in anthologies and journals including Southern Cultures, American Nature Writing 2001, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, Brevity and 5Trope, among others.

Dr. Wil Rivers-Faculty

Course: Ecology and Natural History of the Adirondacks

Wil is a faculty member of the Outdoor Studies Department at St. Lawrence University. He has taught at St. Lawrence for seven years and currently teaches courses in biology, geology, outdoor studies, and the first-year program. Wil grew up in Indiana and went to college in Iowa and graduate school in Tennessee. He received a master's degrees in ecology and geology and a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology. Wil's continuing interest and research is in how plant communities change over time, from days, weeks, and years to centuries and millennia. This interest has taken him to the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, the rain forest of Puerto Rico, and the northern forests of Michigan and New York. Wil currently has a student studying the 5,000+ year history of Massawepie Mire, one of the nation's largest sphagnum bogs, just a short hike from where the Adirondack Semester is based.