Ben Datema

Ben Datema – Environmental Leadership Office Advisor

Ben Datema graduated from Mizzou with a B.A. in biology and an environmental studies minor. He advises student projects including the Bike Resource Center, SPROUT, Mizzou Dashboard, and several student groups. He also advises student efforts to make campus more environmentally sustainable and serves as a resource for students who are interested in learning more about environmental issues.

One day, Ben hopes to serve as a sustainability coordinator, director, or chief sustainability officer for a government, higher education, or business entity, or to work as a sustainability consultant. In his free time, he likes to ride & fix bikes, read textbooks for fun (especially Physiology, Biology, and Environmental  Science), strike up conversations with strangers, learn about and promote social justice, and is an aspiring mad scientist.

Jessi Gordon

Jessi Gordon – Volunteer Coordinator

Jessi is a second year graduate student working towards a masters in agricultural education with an emphasis on sustainable food production. She provides Mizzou students with service-learning opportunities in sustainability-related positions in the Columbia community, like PedNet’s Walking School Bus. Jessi also helps to oversee SPROUT, a peer education program for students who wish to learn about various sustainability topics and teach other students about these topics.

After getting her Masters, Jessi would like to work at an extension or non-profit agency. Jessi’s hobbies include crocheting, nurturing her herb garden and tending to dairy goats and the world’s cutest donkey.

Amy Eultgen

Amy Eultgen – Environmental Leadership Office Representative

Amy is in her fourth year of undergraduate studies working towards a B.S. in human environmental sciences with an emphasis in nutrition and fitness. Her work with the Environmental Leadership Office focuses on peer education about the rules, regulations and safety of bicycle transportation. These key points are demonstrated through the Bike Resource Center and the Bike Mechanics College.

Though her path ahead is currently undefined, Amy hopes the future holds an opportunity related to health education or a profession focused in physical therapy. When she’s not educating others about bicycles, she motivates young girls to achieve physical activity through running as a coach for Girls on the Run. Amy is also a TigerX yoga instructor and a research assistant for the project Playgrounds without Borders.

Emmie Harcourt

Emmie Harcourt – Environmental Leadership Office Representative 

Emmie is a junior studying anthropology. She works alongside Amy on all things bike-related and is also the Environmental Leadership Office historian. She co-coordinates the Bike Resource Center and the Bike Mechanics College all while keeping our files, documents and projects neatly organized.

Emmie hopes to find a way to incorporate her academic interest in anthropology with her love of sustainability and social justice through work in applied anthropology that benefits both human communities and the environment. That, and a lot more school! She fills her free time with vegan baking, yoga, knitting and experimental cooking.

 

Jessica Hill

Jessica Hill-Environmental Leadership Office Representative

Jessica is a junior studying sustainable agriculture.  She is currently in training to be our office’s new “food guru” where she will address food issues on campus and strive to make a more sustainable food system here.  She presently is learning how to farm with Tigers for Community Agriculture where she is growing some food that will be sold to campus dining and some also donated to the new Tiger Pantry.

Jessica’s dream is to someday help set up sustainable, self-sufficient community food systems across Missouri and teach people how to live less wastefully.  She also hopes to attain some land where she can do some sustainable farming herself.  In her free time she enjoys listening to NPR and KOPN talk  shows, playing the violin, and improving her cooking.

 

Former Staff

Monica Everett – Environmental Leadership Office Representative

Monica is a senior majoring in sustainable agriculture with a minor in rural sociology. She focuses on food issues on the Mizzou campus and has worked with multiple MU entities like Campus Dining Facilities and the Wellness Resource Center. Monica collaborated with CDS to reduce waste in the dining halls and joined forces with the Wellness Resource Center for campus farmer’s markets and Wellness Wednesdays.

Monica aspires to be a farmer on a small, self-sufficient, sustainable farm. She would also like to work with developing community food systems. Her hobbies include cooking, hanging out with her chickens, and riding her bike, all while making sure that she has time for yoga and hiking.

 

Rose Eppensteiner – Environmental Leadership Office Representative

Rose graduated in May 2012 with a bachelor of journalism, a minor in political science and a certificate in multicultural studies.  Rose managed the Environmental Leadership Office website and Twitter account. She also sent out a weekly newsletter to keep Mizzou students updated on sustainability happenings at MU and in the Columbia community.

While she isn’t quite sure what the future holds, Rose would eventually like to work in public relations at an environmental nonprofit or get her law degree. In her free time, Rose enjoys traveling to far-off places, going to live music shows and reading everything from blogs to novels.

After graduating, Rose moved to Houston to serve as a Teach for America corps member where she hopes to instill her love of the environment in her middle school students.