Brian Hagenbuch has been a leader in SENCER since its inception, having served as a senior associate and core faculty member.  Prior to assuming his current position at Hartwick College, Brian taught biology at Holyoke Community College and, while there, helped to create a SENCER-inspired learning community with colleagues in the humanities program. 

On the national level, Brian helped align SENCER programs to meet the special needs and to benefit from the special assets of community colleges—the places where the majority of college-going Americans do their postsecondary education.  Brian also coordinated the formation of a New England network of SENCER affiliates, which was the progenitor of what has now become the SENCER Center for Innovation—New England.  A conservation biologist, Brian has worked to link SENCER activities with those of American Museum of Natural History’s Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners project.

As a SENCER Leadership Fellow, Brian will focus on collaborating with members of the SENCER community interested in sustainability education and how to integrate the scientific and civic challenges and dimensions of sustainability into the college curriculum.  He is interested in developing his own work at Hartwick into what can become a SENCER National Model and will continue to be engaged in mentoring and consultation regionally and with others interested in sustainability.

Brian was elected to the inaugural class of Leadership Fellows in July 2008.