A political ecologist, parent, mentor, interpreter, and survivor of chronic illness, Susannah (she/her) holds a PhD in Geography.
After completing a BA in Biology, Francophone and Latin American studies, Susannah accompanied smallholder coffee farmers in Costa Rica, who raised questions about power, justice, and the sustainability of conservation. Back on unceded Western Abenaki territory, in Vermont, she studied whose labor maintains the state’s iconic working landscapes, and who can access them. She surveyed forest landowners and interviewed Latinx dairy workers. She still collaborates with farmworkers, whose grassroots advocacy has changed terms of access, mobility and self-determination in Vermont.
Susannah has taught Geography at the University of Vermont and Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College. She has worked formally and informally for over two decades with organizations focused on land reform, farming, community forestry, ethnobiology, environmental justice and migrant labor. She is a Fulbright Scholar, Ford Community Forestry and Switzer Fellow. Before joining CWC in 2019, she worked at Global Diversity Foundation, where she supported Indigenous-led community research and co-organized convenings to strengthen capacity for connection, resilience and wellbeing. A lifelong Quaker, Susannah is committed to strengthening the critical intersections between viable landscapes and just human livelihoods.
