The Friends of the Ashley Schiff Preserve Executive Board is composed of four officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer), a community liaison, and the chairs of all standing committees. We meet monthly, and any member of the FASP is welcome to attend our meetings.
Schiff Family Representative: Dorothy Schiff-Shannon
President: Sharon Pochron
Sharon Pochron teaches in the Sustainability Studies Program at Stony Brook University and is the PI of the Worm Lab. She is also the director of the Ecosystems and Human Impact major. She joined the FASP because the woods offered her students an opportunity to escape the walls of campus and a place to study interactions between people and the environment.
Vice President & Membership and Development Committee Chair: Maureen Murphy
Secretary: Sue Avery
Sue is a botanist, a certified landscape designer and has experience volunteering for various conservation organizations, namely Seatuck Environmental Association, Long Island Native Plant Initiative and Four Harbors Audubon Society. She is passionate about conserving open space for the benefit of all.
Treasurer: Donna Digiovanni
Donna DiGiovanni is the Assistant to the Chair for the Department of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University. She joined the Friends of the Ashley Schiff Preserve in 2005 when the committee was recruited to advocate for the preserve. She echoes the goal pf the Friends: to ensure that it would not be developed and to keep the preserve “forever wild”, highlighting the importance of natural areas.
I’ve been involved with the Preserve since I started my job here in 2004. I was looking through department archives when I found a folder of old Ashley Schiff historical records. After looking at all the information, I realized two facts–the Preserve is a very special place, with a unique history to honor Ashley Schiff, and it also never received the full legal protections to keep it forever wild. I decided then to get more involved with the Friends committee to hopefully protect this ecological gem on campus. All wild spaces are treasures but they are quickly disappearing due to development pressures. Please join us to keep the Preserve intact and forever wild! – Donna Digiovanni
Nomination Committee Chair: Lauren Donovan
Education Committee Chair: David Taylor
David Taylor is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities in the Sustainability Studies Program housed in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. His writing crosses disciplinary boundaries and genres—scholarship, science/technical writing, creative nonfiction, and poetry. However, at the core of his work always is an interest in and concern for environmental sustainability and community. He is the author and editor of nine books. Most recently, he is Lead Editor and Contributor for An Island in the Stream: Ecocritical and Literary Responses to Cuban Environmental Culture (Lexington Books, 2019).
The Ashley Schiff Woods serves multiple purposes on Stony Brook’s main campus, from science research to inspiration for art. The work of the Friends of the Ashely Schiif Woods is to make sure preservation of this parcel of land remains at the forefront of SBU’s plans and continues to be a place of joy, respite, engagement, and research for students and faculty alike. All of my students in every class make a trip to the woods so that they begin to see its vital role at SBU. – David Taylor
Alumni Representative / Social Media Manager / Volunteer Program Manager : Hogyeum ‘Evan’ Joo
Hogyeum ‘Evan’ Joo is a Stony Brook University graduate (BA in Ecosystems and Human Impact, 19′) and a Ashley Schiff Preserve Scholarship winner 2018-2019. He has been doing research on awareness level of the Preserve for the past 3 years, and manages the website, Facebook, and the Instagram page of the FASP. He also manages and guides the Student Volunteer Programs and student-led Research projects. He’s currently a masters’ student at Columbia University studying Sustainability Management.
I found out about the history of the Preserve when I was an undergrad student at Stony Brook University and it truly changed my life. The presence of area like this with such history can truly change the way students see their environment, and I’d like to be the advocate who reach out to the students and community members to teach them about the values the Preserve can bring to us – Evan Joo
Community Liaison: Nick Acampora
Management and Planning Committee Chair: Chart Guthrie
Other Roles
Although not members of the Executive Board, the following members play prominent roles in the FASP:
Social Media Coordinator: Melissa Cohen
Preserve Monitor: Abigail Higgins
Emeritus Board Member (Former Vice-President, and Scholarship Committee Chair): Paul Siegel
Paul has been a member of the Friends since its resurrection by the campus environmental committee. He has at various times served as vice chair and chair. As chair he is most proud of having worked with the membership to create and enshrine the by-laws and creating the Guardian of the Glade award to recognize those individuals who have provided exceptional service to the Friends. He sees the Preserve as providing a tangible measure of honoring the University’s beginnings and one of its early professors.
