| Office Location: Pennsylvania Park between Lake and Bay Streets in downtown Petoskey |
Mailing Address: 220 Park Avenue Petoskey, MI 49770 |
| Phone: 231-348-9700 Fax: 231-348-1085 |
e-mail: seenorth@seenorth.org |
| Alison Falldin | Raptor Specialist | 231-348-9700 | alison@seenorth.org |
| Lauren Hinchman | Office Manager | 231-348-9700 x 100 | lauren@seenorth.org |
| Marty Samson | Exploration Center Director, ELF Program Coordinator | 231-348-9700 x 105 | martys@seenorth.org |
| Mary Whitmore | Executive Director | 231-348-9700 x 104 | mary@seenorth.org |
Lauren earned a B.A. in Biology from Principia College in Illinois and then a Masters of Arts in Teaching Science from Webster University in St. Louis. After getting married she and her husband moved to Petoskey to start a family in beautiful Northern Michigan. She's been an adjunct Biology instructor at North Central Michigan College since 2001 and continues to enjoy teaching there during the evenings. In the meantime she has also earned a Masters of Science in Science Education from Montana State University.
She is also a world traveler. She studied the Natural History and Geomorphology of New Zealand for 3 months, explored Italy for a semester studying art and opera, and has done a series of annual underwater transect in the Carribean to study coral reef health over time. Her adventurous side has lead her to rock climb at the top of Mont Blanc in France, dog sled in switzerland, tour castles in England. As a former member of SEE-North's board of directors, Lauren is enjoying finding new ways to help the organization succeed from her post as Office Manager.
Marty Samson
Marty Samson was raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. She earned a teaching certificate from Central Michigan University and completed a M.S. degree at the University of Michigan Biological Station. Before coming to SEE-North, Marty was a researcher at the Station and taught middle school science.
Marty has been an educator at SEE-North since 1991. During her tenure, she has developed many of SEE-North’s most successful programs: our 24- and 48-Hour Adventures, Family Math & Science Nights, and Nature at Noon. Marty now coordinates SEE-North’s ELF (Environmental Learning for the Future) program. She also oversees the day-to-day operation of the SEE-North Exploration Center in downtown Petoskey.
Marty’s goal is to share her love of science and nature with those she teaches, and to help people discover that the more they learn about nature, the more fascinating it becomes.
Mary Whitmore founded SEE-North in 1986 while working as the Resident Ecologist at the University of Michigan Biological Station.
Mary's formal education focused on ecology, zoology and animal behavior. She graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S., majoring in both zoology and wildlife biology. She spent two summers as a student at the University of Michigan Biological Station (and later worked there for five years as a teaching assistant in the field ornithology course). In 1977, she was awarded a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship and chose to pursue a year of field-based studies in Australia. What began as a one-year visit ended up as a seven-year adventure, thanks to a graduate fellowship from the University of Queensland. Mary earned her doctorate in zoology while in Australia and also traveled extensively throughout that country.
From 1984-1994, Mary worked at the University of Michigan's Biological Station, coordinating a program for outstanding graduate students from all over the world and developing a successful teacher enhancement project that was funded by the National Science Foundation. She also served as a consultant in science education to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
While developing SEE-North, Mary also worked for five years with staff of the Michigan Department of Education to study and improve the system of professional development for K-12th grade science and mathematics teachers in Michigan. Most recently, she served as an editor for the SCoPE Site Project, funded by the State of Michigan and designed to provide web-based instructional resources to Michigan's K-12th grade educators.
Mary cherishes the outdoors and applies both her head and her heart to her job. Her goals are to make learning about science, mathematics and the environment both meaningful and locally relevant, and to help people of all ages discover and understand in some depth the workings of the natural world.