Sarah D. Jerome

Superintendent School District of Kettle Moraine
Wales, Wisconsin 1991-2006
Arlington Heights School District 25
Arlington Heights, Illinois

Sarah Jerome, Ed.D., is superintendent in the Arlington Heights School District 25. She served as superintendent in the School District of Kettle Moraine for the past 15 years. Dr. Jerome has recently been elected as president-elect of The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and is the second woman elected to serve as president in the organization’s 141-year history. Dr. Jerome was named Wisconsin Superintendent of The Year 2005 and one of four finalists for the National Superintendent of The Year. She has championed international education and was named by Friends of Global Education as Global Education Administrator of the Year in 2004. She has served as president of the Wisconsin School Music Association for two terms and was named YWCA Woman of Distinction in 1998. Dr. Jerome led the Kettle Moraine District to collaboration with several researchers interested in cognitive development and to all six district schools named as Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education – the only school district in Wisconsin to receive this distinction. Dr. Jerome earned degrees at Greensboro College with BA in History and Duke University with MAT and Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. She completed study at Marquette University. She has been a professional educator for 38 years serving in North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas, and Illinois.

Jim Perry

Professor of Water Quality
Head of the Department of Fisheries,
Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
University of Minnesota

Jim Perry is Professor of Water Quality and Head of the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota. He previously served as Director of Graduate Studies in Water Resource Science and currently is Director of Graduate Studies in Wildlife Conservation. He also serves as a member of the graduate faculties in Conservation Biology and Natural Resource Science and Management. He was a Professor in Forest Resources for 18 years before joining Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology as Head in 2000 (clearly this guy cannot hold a job). He has won the Morse Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, the Richard C Newman Award for the Art of Teaching, the University of Minnesota  Award for Outstanding Service, and been elected to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Jim received his Ph.D. in biology from Idaho State University in 1981. Prior to coming to Minnesota, he served as Area Manager for a consulting firm in Salt Lake City and served 9 years as Senior Water Quality Specialist for the State of Idaho. He also worked in Costa Rica for two years as Ichthyologist for the Peace Corps (this guy is as old as the hills). He has worked in more than 50 countries, including serving for six years as Deputy Director of the US AID Environmental Training Project for Central and Eastern Europe. He has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Natural Resource and Life Science Education since 1999. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy since 1996 and currently is Board Vice-Chair. His research interests center on informed natural resource decision making at the landscape scale. Jim and his students are active currently in six other countries as well as the US. They pose questions about the ways ecosystems are structured, how they function and how they are distributed in landscapes; and how management practices affect those systems and society makes wise decisions about management of landscapes. He wrote the leading text in his field (Perry and VanDerklein Water Quality: Management of a Natural Resource) and he led preparation of Perry et al. Ecosystem Management in Central and Eastern Europe: Decision Making for the Future.

Dr. James H. Ryan

Vice President Emeritus for Outreach The Pennsylvania State University

James Ryan served for 13 years as Penn State's first Vice President for Outreach. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination of the University's external outreach initiatives and for the administrative units of Continuing Education, Distance Education/World campus, Public Broadcasting, and Cooperative Extension. With over 1000 faculty and staff, Penn State Outreach is the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education, serving more than 5 million students, participants, viewers, and listeners at over 500 locations, from all 50 states and 80 countries annually.

Prior to this appointment, Dr. Ryan was the Campus Executive Officer [Chancellor] for the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus for nine years. He has also served as a faculty member in public administration and held various administrative positions in academic affairs, institutional advancement, and college student personnel with Indiana University and at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Since his retirement in 2004, he has been active as a consultant with various universities and the Worldwide Universities Network.

A native of Danville, Pennsylvania, he received his baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degrees from SUNY, Buffalo. Dr. Ryan has taught, written, and lectured widely on leadership, managerial decision-making, organizational change and development, information technology, distance education and the role of higher education in economic development. He has been active in many national and community organizations where he has served in leadership positions. He has received numerous awards and recognitions including the University Continuing Education Association [UCEA] International Futures Award for Exceptional and Innovative Leadership.