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Alethea L. Gallman

Biography

A camping trip in Montana's Big Sky country changed life for Alethea Kimmel-Guy. She marveled at the beauty until discovering her tent was near a strip mine. She was 26, working fulltime at a well-paid insurance job and attending a community college while her nearby parents helped look after her daughter, then six. But Montana inspired her, she recalls, "to devote my career to preserving the natural world." Alethea ignored pressure from friends and family to stay put and moved to Ohio University (OU), hundreds of miles away. She took food stamps and Medicaid health benefits for her daughter while plunging into complex energy-use studies.

Alethea's passion for the environment blossomed at OU. She prospered academically, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and became an environmental advocate. She founded the campus's Sierra Student Coalition, became student appointee to the faculty senate ecology and energy conservation committee, and served on the executive committee of the Appalachian Ohio Sierra Club. Alethea also used geographic information systems software to help analyze energy consumption by Baltimore area commuters, partnering with two professors in a project backed by the National Science Foundation. One of her professors, Dr. Nancy Manring, says, "These research experiences are further testament to Alethea's extraordinary capabilities, energy, self-direction, and intellectual curiosity."

After getting a doctorate in geography, Alethea plans to teach and continue her research "on understanding the interaction of humans with the environment." She also aims to earn certification in environmental dispute mediation. Her long-term goal is to advise leaders in environmental and energy policy.

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