Core Faculty

EdD, University of Massachusetts MEd, University of Massachusetts BA (honors), English, Brown Univ.

Ken Byrne, Academic Director + Humanities

Ken joined the faculty in 2003, with primary responsibility for the humanities and as curriculum coordinator. An educator for 25 years, Ken brings a wide range of experience, from teaching secondary school in Macau, to educational design consulting for an environmental non-governmental organization in the Philippines, to teaching college writing and creative nonfiction at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ken has been active in projects linking environmental and social health to community development efforts, both in the Connecticut River Valley region and abroad. Interdisciplinary by inclination, Ken draws on geography, philosophy, economics, anthropology, education, psychology, and literary theory to examine the relationship between people and the environment. He is interested in alternative concepts of economy and community, and believes that one of the functions of education should be to unsettle fixed or conventional notions of the individual, nature, society, and development.

MA, Landscape Design, The Conway School BA, Architecture and Urbanism, Smith College

Kate Cholakis ’11, Ecological Design

Kate is a landscape designer who created her own business after graduating from the Conway School. She specialized in ecological landscape design for residential clients and large-scale landscapes. Prior to returning to Conway to teach, Kate was a project designer in green infrastructure planning at Nitsch Engineering in Boston, where she contributed to master plans for college campuses, design competitions, and permitting applications for large-scale developments. After a summer fellowship at the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, DC, Kate began teaching at Conway in August 2015. A common thread underlying Kate’s professional work is developing a design process that emphasizes thorough analysis of cultural, physical, and temporal aspects of a site. With a multidisciplinary background, Kate applies strong skills in ecological landscape design, green infrastructure and stormwater planning, digital and hand graphics, cultural landscape research, and report writing to her practice and teaching.

MLA, Univ. of Massachusetts MArch, Univ. of Pennsylvania BA, Wesleyan University

Kim Erslev, Design and Graphics

Kim is both a practicing architect and landscape architect with her own firm, Salmon Falls Ecological Design, based in Shelburne Falls. She has worked with several design firms on a diversity of projects including: the design of the Micmac Heritage Center in Northern Canada, the Jerusalem Science Museum, the Greenfield Energy Park, the Eric Carle Museum, and Greenfield Community College’s Outdoor Learning Laboratory. Her current design practice focuses on the design of ecological and productive landscapes, super-insulated passive and active solar homes, institutional master plans, and co-housing communities.

Kim joined the faculty of the Conway School in 2006 and teaches landscape design, graphics, and site engineering. She is dedicated to supporting students to design healthy human ecosystems, and to create a seamless connection between the built environment, landscapes, and the natural world.

BS, Environmental Design, University of Massachusetts

MS, Forest Ecology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst BA, American Civ., Brown Univ.

MALD, The Conway School BA, Environmental Studies, Ithaca College

MS, Environmental Resource Management, Antioch BS, Environmental Sociology, University of Massachusetts

Sebastian ‘Bas’ Gutwein, Digital Design

Bas teaches Surveying, the Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD, and GIS. He is a living systems designer, and founding partner of Regenerative Design Group, where he works with individuals, communities, and organizations in landscape design. He also brings his experience with commercial farming in Indiana, stone work, and heading the Greenfield Parking and Traffic Committee. Bas is a part-time member of the faculty, teaching surveying, a weekly digital design class, and working with students for one half-day in the studio each week.

Glenn Motzkin, Ecology

Glenn Motzkin is a plant ecologist interested in patterns of species distribution, vegetation dynamics, disturbance history, and the application of historical ecology to conservation in New England. Glenn has studied a wide range of natural communities, with particular interests in the history and dynamics of uncommon communities that support rare species and are priorities for conservation. Glenn is currently an independent ecological consultant, having previously worked as plant ecologist at Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts. Glenn serves as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.

Anne Capra ’00, Planning (Winter Term)

Anne Capra works with students during the winter term, focusing on studio projects. Anne was a land use and environmental planner with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission for 13 years, where she was responsible for project management, research, education and outreach, report writing, and grant writing in the areas of land use management and environmental protection with an emphasis on water quality restoration and protection. In addition to her work at Conway, Anne is a conservation planner with Conservation Works LLC, a wide-ranging conservation consulting firm with extensive in-house expertise in land management, land protection, biological services, land use and open space planning, resource protection zoning, train system development, and mapping and photo documentation.

Bill Lattrell, Ecology

A Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) and Restoration Ecologist, Bill Lattrell has managed projects involving wildlife habitat, wetland restoration, wetlands mapping, large natural environments restoration, and public education, and is trained in climate change vulnerability assessment. He joined Conway as adjunct faculty in 1990, teaching classes in wetlands identification and regulation and wildlife habitat, and leading field trips to a variety of ecosystems, including bogs, beaver ponds, old growth forests, vernal pools, and successional meadows. Bill’s broad applied knowledge of natural resource issues helps students evaluate environmental assets and anticipate potential repercussions on the ecosystems of residential and community sites. He is the principal of Lattrell Ecological Consulting in Heath, MA. A part-time member of the faculty, Bill leads many of the weekly field work sessions, and twice each term consults with students about their projects in the studio.