Three area women joined the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center’s Board of Trustees on October 14 at the nonprofit’s annual meeting.Three New Members Join Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center Board of Trustees
Rebecca M. Nolan, Jennifer Herbst and Claudia Bachmann-Bouchard join the board, which oversees the operation of the center. They will each serve a three-year term.
Nolan is a landscape architect who grew up in Mystic, and returned to the area in 2017. She lives in Pawcatuck. She is Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where she has been a member of the Research Office team since 2018 helping facilitate interdisciplinary projects between RISD faculty, students and external partners. Rebecca is passionate about local history, open space conservation and environmental advocacy.
“I began following the Coogan Farm project while still living in New York, and I was eager to find a way to be more involved in initiatives that promote healthy living and outdoor education in my home area,” she said. “In addition, the history of Coogan Farm has been of personal interest as the Morgan Family previously owned the home where I grew up in West Mystic.”
Herbst, who is originally from Massachusetts, has spent the past 20 years working in environmental compliance for industry. She has a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech.
“DPNC has been an important part of our family’s lives since we moved to Mystic in 1998,” she said. “We have participated in classes, camps, Spooky Nature trails, Earth Day events and Mushroom Festivals. I consider the DPNC grounds an extension of our back yard and we frequent them weekly.”
Bachmann-Bouchard was born and raised in Argentina. She moved to Connecticut in 1995, and received a double major bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular
Biology at Connecticut College. She went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in Curriculum & Instruction with STEM Certification from the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
She teaches seventh-grade science at Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School in Norwich in a hybrid model due to Covid-19.
“I look forward to bringing together all my areas of expertise to help the Nature Center meet the needs of students, not only in Norwich and New London, but throughout the region,” she said.
The Board of Trustees of the Nature Center also includes:
President Karen L. Stone
Vice President Dorrit Castle
Secretary Richard B. Steele
Treasurer Rowland Stebbins II
Jean Hendren Ceddia
Ana M. Schneider
Stanton Ching
Jason Guyot
Fred Ziegler
Fatima Matos
Steven Dodd
Robert Martin
About the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
The Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic provides visitors and the community the opportunity to experience nature first hand in year-round programs for all ages and interests. Explore more than 10 miles of diverse trails and walk among 17th century stonewalls, woodlands, wetlands and meadows to enjoy views across the Mystic River and beyond. At the DPNC’s main facility, guests can discover nature through meeting rehabilitated wildlife and natural history exhibits. The creation of the Coogan Farm in 2013 has added additional layers of education, history, and a Giving Garden that donates thousands of pounds of bio-nutrient rich produce to the food insecure of New London County each year. DPNC’s mission is to inspire an understanding of the natural world and ourselves as part of it – past, present and future.
