Tara Fletcher Ramsey

Education (way too many years!)
- BA speech communication, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN, 1993

- MS botany/ecology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 1999 (studied Alaskan old-growth forest)

-PhD botany/ecology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2005 (studied invasion biology of English ivy)

Notable adventures:

- Measured trees in Panama during the winter of 1994-95. Lived on a remote peninsula in the middle of the Panama Canal and saw monkeys, anteaters, army ants, parrots, and other cool tropical creatures every day. On the negative side, I also met chiggers and seed ticks....

- Spent the summer of 1997 in southcentral Alaska conducting research. Came face to face with a black bear.

- Took a biology class in the Amazon (Peru) in 1998.

- Took a biology class in Nova Scotia/Newfoundland in 1998 (Newfoundland is amazing!).

- Made a solo backpacking trip to Europe for 2 months in summer 2000 (England, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Iceland). I enjoyed all the countries, but especially loved Poland and Scotland.

- Lived in Guelph, Ontario, where my husband was pursuing a postdoc.

- Eloped to Niagara Falls, from Guelph, in 2004.

- Spent 3 weeks collecting plants in Europe spring 2008 (Austria, Belgium, France, Spain and the Netherlands). Arrived the day the US dollar was weakest against the Euro, and spent most of the time in a car.

Jobs

- Ecology and Genetics instructor, University of Rochester, NY, current

- Naturalist/instructor, Long Lake Conservation Center, Palisade, MN 1998-2000

- School bus driver, Crosby, MN 1996

- Speech & Debate coach, Bethel College, 1993-1995.