{"id":3795,"date":"2022-04-25T15:30:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T15:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/pathways\/?page_id=3795"},"modified":"2025-07-18T20:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:43:07","slug":"25-plenary-speakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/pathways\/25-plenary-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenary Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Plenary Speakers” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

The Pathways 2025 Team is thrilled to announce the following plenary speakers.<\/h2>\n

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bringing nature home with art<\/h5>\n

Sunday, September 7, 2025 | 4:00-5:30 PM<\/p>\n

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ben masters<\/h5>\n

Director & Founder,
\nFin & Fur Films<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Ben Masters is a filmmaker and writer specializing in wildlife and adventure stories. He is most known for directing\u00a0Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story,\u00a0The River and The Wall\u00a0(SXSW 2019 Award Winner) and for producing\u00a0Unbranded\u00a0(Mountainfilm 2015 Audience Award Winner). Masters studied wildlife biology at Texas A&M University and founded Fin and Fur Films in 2012. He is the author of two books published by Texas A&M University Press and has written for National Geographic and Western Horseman. A proud Texan, Masters loves riding a good horse through new country, filming wildlife stories that haven\u2019t been documented before, and using movies to help conserve wildlife and wild places.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Presented by Colorado Parks and Wildlife<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

The Science and Practice of Wild Awe<\/h5>\n

Monday, September 8, 2025 | 8:00-9:30 AM<\/p>\n

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Dacher Keltner<\/h5>\n

Professor of Psychology,
\nCo-Director of the Greater Good Science Center & Author<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dacher Keltner\u2019s research focuses the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and power, social class, and inequality. As a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab, he is a leading scholar in the study of emotion, including a new project on awe around the globe, as well as power, class, and inequality.<\/p>\n

Dacher also serves as the Faculty Director of the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. In 2020, along with Michael Pollan and others, he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. The center conducts research using psychedelics to investigate cognition, perception and emotion and their biological bases in the human brain. In addition, Dacher is Chief Scientific Advisor at Hume AI.<\/p>\n

Dacher is the author of The Power Paradox<\/em>, as well as the bestseller Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life<\/em> and The Compassionate Instinct<\/em>. He has published over 190 scientific articles, including seminal works on the psychology of awe (Keltner & Haidt, 2003) and is the co-author of two textbooks. He is also co-editor of The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good<\/em>. He has written for the New York Times Magazine<\/em>, London Times<\/em>, and Utne Reader<\/em>, and his research has been covered in TIME<\/em>, Newsweek<\/em>, the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, the New York Times<\/em>, CNN, NPR, and the BBC as well as many other outlets. His newest book is Awe: The New Science Of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dacher has collaborated on projects at Facebook and Google and served as scientific consultant for the Pixar films Inside Out<\/em> and Inside Out 2<\/em>. He is featured in Tom Shadyac\u2019s documentary I Am<\/em>. He has twice presented his research to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as part of a continuing dialogue between the Dalai Lama and scientists. Dacher has received outstanding teacher and research mentor awards from UC Berkeley, and seen 20 of his PhD students and post-doctoral fellows become professors.<\/p>\n

Dacher is an outstanding speaker who has received several national research and teaching awards. He is the host of The Science of Happiness<\/em> podcast which has 50 million downloads and was ranked a top health podcast by Apple Podcasts and a top 10 wellness podcast by Oprah Magazine<\/em>. Wired<\/em> magazine has rated the podcasts of his \u201cHuman Emotion\u201d course as one of the five best academic podcasts in the country. The Utne Reader<\/em> named Dacher as one of its 50 Visionaries of 2008. In April 2020 he was voted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.<\/p>\n

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enhanced conservation with broader engagement<\/h5>\n

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 | 8:00-9:30 AM<\/p>\n

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Tony Wasley<\/h5>\n

President\/CEO,
\nWildlife Management Institute<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As President of WMI, Tony serves on the American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP), Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports (CAHSS), and the USGS Cooperative Research Units, National Cooperators\u2019 Coalition (NCC). He is a professional member of the Boone and Crockett Club and The Wildlife Society.<\/p>\n

Before joining WMI, Tony served as Director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife for ten years, where he also served as the state deer biologist, an area biologist, and a habitat staff specialist. He previously chaired the North American Wetland Conservation Council (NAWCC), served as President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), sat on the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (a federal advisory committee to the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture), and was president of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA). He graduated from the National Conservation Leadership Institute, received B.S. degrees in Wildlife Management and Biological Sciences from California State University, Chico, and earned an M.S. in Biology from Idaho State University.<\/p>\n

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Sara Parker Pauley<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Former Director,
\nMissouri Department of Conservation<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently retired, Sara Parker Pauley served as the ninth director of the Missouri Department of Conservation since its formation in 1937. The Missouri Conservation Commission announced Pauley\u2019s selection effective November 1, 2016. Pauley is also the former president of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. In each of those roles, she was the first woman to serve.<\/p>\n

A native of Columbia, Pauley received both her law degree and bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri \u2013 Columbia, and did post-graduate studies in Australia as a Rotary Fellow. She previously served as director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources since 2010. She worked as project manager for D.J. Case & Associates, a natural resources communications firm, and as a deputy director for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. She has been an instructor at the University of Missouri\u2019s School of Natural Resources, teaching a course in natural resource policy and administration.<\/p>\n

Pauley began her professional career as a Policy Analyst with the Missouri Department of Conservation from 1993\u20131996. Over the years, though her career path varied, it has never strayed far from her personal desire to be engaged in the stewardship of Missouri\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n

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the Management of Unique Wildlife Viewing Experiences<\/h5>\n

\u00a0Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 8:00-9:30 AM<\/p>\n

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will deacy<\/h5>\n

Large Mammal Ecologist,
\nRocky Mountain National Park<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Will Deacy leads the Large Mammal Ecology team at Rocky Mountain National Park which researches elk, moose, and their relationship to vegetation communities. He earned his PhD in Systems Ecology from the University of Montana in 2016 while studying how Kodiak brown bears react to and use phenological variation in salmon spawning. More recently, he worked for the National Park Service in Alaska to estimate the populations of Dall\u2019s sheep and brown bears in the vast and remote arctic National Parks and Preserves. In the past, he has worked on projects studying desert tortoises, seabirds, Sierra Nevada Red Fox, and wolves.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”4848″ img_size=”200×250″ alignment=”center” css=””][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

KrisTal sToner<\/h5>\n

Executive Director,
\nAudubon Great Plains<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kristal Stoner is a Vice President of the National Audubon Society and the Executive Director of Audubon Great Plains. As lead of Audubon Great Plains, Kristal oversees conservation strategies spanning across the state\u2019s prairies, rivers, working lands, and community building work. Kristal is also responsible for two nature centers, Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center and Iain Nicholson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary where education, bird conservation, and habitat enhancement are elevated. Kristal serves on multiple US Fish and Wildlife Joint Venture Boards where opportunities abound to expand regional bird conservation. Prior to Audubon, Kristal served as the Wildlife Diversity Program Manager at the Game and Parks Commission where she co-wrote and implemented the State Wildlife Action Plan to conserve at-risk species by developing and coordinating initiatives across multiple divisions, landscapes, and public and private partnerships. She also co-lead the launch of the Nebraska Master Naturalist Program that continues to thrive and empower enthusiastic individuals to contribute to conservation. Kristal is an adjunct professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and holds a MS in Ecology, Evolution, and Animal Behavior from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a B.S. in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University. She enjoys hiking and birding with her two children and husband.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Brought to you by:<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”3787″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1731438947371{margin-top: 30px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”3786″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Plenary Speakers” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=””] The Pathways 2025 Team is thrilled to announce the following plenary speakers. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] bringing nature home with art Sunday, September 7, 2025 | 4:00-5:30 PM [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4793″ img_size=”200×250″ alignment=”center” css=””][vc_column_text css=””] ben masters Director & Founder, Fin & Fur Films [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Biography:\u00a0 Ben Masters is a filmmaker and writer … <\/p>\n

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