Lena Fletcher

I am committed to fostering a diverse, positive, and welcoming community in the Natural Resources Conservation program. To this end, I work to provide a safe, equitable, and inclusive environment through intentional and ongoing work and actions, to celebrate our differences, to foster connections across differences, to respect individual needs, styles, and career goals and to advise and mentor accordingly. Correcting historical imbalances and addressing the harms of colonialism while dismantling white supremacy, both in the field of environmental conservation and more broadly, is a responsibility that we all must engage in every day.

Primary Interests

Lena’s primary academic interests include forest ecology, old-growth forests, invasive species, and the ways that forest stands change over time. She studied geology as an undergraduate student at Smith College, and forest ecology and conservation as a master’s student in the Department of Environmental Conservation here at UMass Amherst. Lena has been focusing increasingly on developing and applying innovative teaching methods such as contemplative practices, civic engagement, and active student-centered team-based instruction that promote student-driven learning for undergraduates in environmental conservation, sustainability science, and integrated science education programs.

Lena was a faculty fellow in the 2021-2022 Inclusive Excellence program in the College of Natural Sciences!

Lena was a faculty fellow in the 2019-2020 Sustainability Curriculum Fellowship program. She continues to be part of Sustainability Curriculum Initiative on campus.

Lena was a faculty fellow in the 2014-2015 Fellowships for Innovative Teaching program with the Center for Teaching and Faculty Development, as well as the Civic Engagement and Service Learning Fellowship, both at UMass Amherst.

Note: Lena does not act a faculty advisor for graduate students. Her focus is on undergraduate teaching, advising, and program management.