Recorded November 29, 2023

Description: This highly interactive, thought-provoking, and practical workshop will introduce the participants to key principles of conflict transformation and of effective communication. The participants will learn how to utilize mindfulness, observation without evaluation, active listening, and curiosity to transform even the most difficult interactions into opportunities for growth, connection, and dialogue.

Presenter: Henry Yampolsky, J.D. is a best-selling author of Dis-Solving Conflict from Within: an Inner Path for Conflict Transformation. Henry is a mediator, educator, lawyer and a multi-time TEDx speaker. Henry serves as the Assistant Director for Education, Outreach, and Conflict Resolution at Virginia Tech’s Office for Equity and Accessibility.  He also teaches conflict resolution, mediation, and peacebuilding as a part of Virginia Tech’s Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention. Henry has worked with hundreds of complex conflicts and has taught and lectured around the world including at: Columbia University School of Law, the New York Peace Institute, the International Gandhi Center in New Delhi, Bellevue Mediation in Zurich, Switzerland, Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, India and at the Sattva Summit in Rishikesh, India. Prior to embarking on a career in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, Henry was an award winning trial lawyer in Philadelphia. He holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Temple University and has a Bachelor of Science in International Relations from the University of Scranton. A native of Kyiv, Ukraine, Henry resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. 

Recorded: November 14, 2022

Description: In this session, we will discuss how VMN chapters can best engage with two of our sponsoring agencies, DCR State Parks and DOF.  Agency representatives will join us to talk about how to best communicate with the agencies, volunteer opportunities, limitations on how the agencies can utilize volunteers, and suggestions for developing more effective working relationships.  We hope to have similar conversations with other agencies in the future.

Presenters: 

Dorie Stolley, Director of the Office of Community Engagement and Volunteerism, Virginia State Parks, DCR, works to support and strengthen State Parks volunteer programs, such as Camp Host, AmeriCorps, Youth Conservation Corps, and the "regular" volunteer program that provides invaluable service to individual parks.  Dorie helped to start the Tidewater Chapter of the VMN program and is now a member of the Riverine Chapter.

Ellen Powell is the Conservation Education Coordinator for the Virginia Department of Forestry.  Ellen wrote the Common Native Trees of Virginia and Common Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of Virginia books that our VMN chapters use in their training courses.  She helped start the VMN program statewide in 2005 and has served as a steering committee member and agency liaison since that point. 

Recorded: November 14, 2022

Presenters: Michelle Prysby, VMN Program Director and Tiffany Brown, VMN Program Assistant

Description: The VMN program relies on volunteers to run the day-to-day operations of the program at the local level.  Enthusiastic, motivated, and organized volunteers serving in chapter leadership positions are key!  How can you recruit and retain new leaders?  What strategies tried by chapters have been most effective?  What do you do when there is a gap?  Michelle and Tiffany will share everything they have gleaned from working with 30+ chapters over the lifetime of the program, and we will ask you to share your thoughts and experiences, too.

Recorded: November 10, 2022

Presenter: Anita Walz, Assistant Director for Open Education and Scholarly Communication, Virginia Tech Libraries

Description: Many Virginia Master Naturalists give presentations, create and share chapter newsletters, develop websites, use social media, or write articles etc. It is often not possible to create original text and graphics for such education or outreach artifacts, nor is it desirable. Using a series of examples, this presentation will introduce Virginia Master Naturalists to six important copyright principles, methods for finding and legally reusing images and illustrations, including Creative Commons-licensed works, and best practices for crediting authors. By the end of the presentation participants should be able to answer the questions: What's under copyright? How does it get there? How long does copyright last? What activities does copyright cover? Can I (and how) use others' copyrighted works?  What are Creative Commons licenses? and perhaps most importantly -- how can I find and legally use others' artifacts which they want me to be able to use?

Presenter: Anita Walz is the Assistant Director for Open Education and Scholarly Communication Librarian at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech. She currently works with Virginia Tech faculty and staff who want to create and freely share learning resources with students and the general public. She has managed or collaborated to publish numerous open educational resources, including nearly twenty open textbooks which are used all around the world. Her professional career spans academic, international, school, and government libraries in addition to working in non-profits and consulting prior to becoming a librarian.

Link to slides: https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/items/ba71b121-7473-4148-9e8c-559a643ac0f7 

Recorded: November 1, 2022

Presenter: Dave Close, Specialist for Volunteer Engagement for Virginia Cooperative Extension (at the time of this recording)

Description: Why is it necessary for us to work together? How do each of us view change within the context of our volunteer work and programming? How do we individually and collectively approach problem solving? Why do we disagree and who is right? What happens when our ideas, methodologies, and preferences clash when we are supposedly working toward the same goal or solution? These questions and more will be raised and addressed to give us a deeper appreciation for those with whom we work and volunteer who likely see life, our volunteer opportunities, and our work through lenses different than our own. We will discuss diversity in a very broad sense that expands beyond personal identity characteristics. And how does all of this impact within-group communication? Conflict is inevitable. How we manage and navigate conflict determines how successful we will be ultimately.

Presenter Bio: In late March of this year, Mr. Dave Close was announced as the Specialist for Volunteer Engagement for Virginia Cooperative Extension. Up until that point he served as the State Extension Specialist for Consumer Horticulture. He was also the State Program Director for the Extension Master Gardener Program and the Extension MG State Coordinator prior to that. Before moving to Virginia Tech, Dave was the Community Forestry Coordinator for the southern 36 counties in Illinois working jointly with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Southern Illinois University assisting small municipalities to manage their community forest resources. He received an M.S. degree in Forest Ecology from Southern Illinois University and has post-masters course work in Botany, Environmental Resources and Policy, and Leadership.