I am a Design Professor who teaches sustainability through the lens of systems thinking. I also work as a researcher, lecturer and consultant. Yet, the world we live in is not sustainable, and sustainable design is not sustainable. We must move from thinking sustainably to thinking regeneratively and design in this way. Students often want to design pretty things without considering the larger impacts. My role as a professor is to bring the concepts of regeneration, systems thinking, intersectionality and impact change to the design field. As a consultant I work to bring my expertise in design thinking/ process and systems thinking to the climate space to consider how levers and messages can be most effectivly delivered.

I am a leader and a cultivator. I am a disruptor and advocate. I play this role is small and large ways. This might be working in my neighborhood with others to pick up trash, it might be changing curriculum or advocating city policies. I am often not afraid to speak up, frustrated that more people don't and instead say they are too afraid to disrupt anything. In my garden I know when it's time to get rid of weeds, and completely redo a bed. Sometimes there are seeds to plant and compost to spread. Sometimes there are seeds to throw and see what happens. Sometimes there are weeks to let whatever happens happens. Sometimes there is curation and sometimes there is surprise. Here I talk not just about my fava beans and poppy's but also my work with teams and students.

After experiencing extreme burnout to the point where I had to take extended medical leave it became more and more clear to me that we must regenerate ourselves in order to regenerate our communities in order to regenerate our planet. I try to lead by example in this way. I try to plant ideas that can fractal and regenerate .

Living a more authentic life and staying true to my boundaries.

I climbed the academic ladder, got to the top, looked around and said "now what?". While I love teaching students and engaging with students I also see so many problems in Higher Ed. I want to shift my energy from academia to more real world/ client projects. I don't see academic papers and research creating the mass change we need fast enough. I am taking this course while on sabbatical from teaching and pondering what my next chapter will be professionally. I hope to expand to find ways to use my gifts and talents in other spaces to help accelerate the changes we need in the climate crisis.

I've published many papers, books, created art works, spoken at events and conferences and done all the things needed to become a full professor tenured in academia. That is an area of investment. As a regenerative practitioner I participated in the Transition Leadership Lab, Regenerative Change Navigation Course, Climate Reality Summit, and other types of spaces for likeminded individuals. Personally I have been in intensive therapy since coming back from my medical leave which often weaves in and out of my professional identity.

Donella Meadows/ 12 places to intervene on a system and Terry Irwin/ Transition Design are some of the most impactful thinkers that I base much of my thinking on.

TBD