James T. Carlton, Director, Marine Ecology
Lisa Gilbert, Oceanography
Glenn S. Gordinier, History of the Sea
Catherine Robinson Hall, Marine Policy
Richard King, Literature of the Sea
Diane Bennett, Oceanography
Beverly Matias, Alumni Relations and Annual Fund
Catherine Blanchette, Finance and Administration
Rachel Rock-Blake, Teaching Assistant for the Sciences
Aislinn Doyle, Admissions Director
Nora Mattern, Admissions Counselor
Director
Marine Ecology
james.t.carlton(at)williams.edu
860-572-5359 ext. 3
Curriculum Vitae
Jim is Professor of Marine Sciences at Williams College. He has directed the Williams-Mystic Program since 1989 and also teaches Marine Ecology. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in Ecology, and was a postdoctoral scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research is on global marine bioinvasions (their ecosystem impacts, dispersal mechanisms, and management strategies) and on marine extinctions in modern times. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Biological Invasions. He is a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, a Distinguished Research Fellow of the University of California, and a Duke University Conservation Scholar. He was the first scientist to receive the federal government's Interagency Recognition Award for his national and international work to reduce the impacts of exotic invasions in the sea. He was Co-Chair of the Marine Biodiversity Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, which produced Understanding Marine Biodiversity: A Research Agenda for the Nation. Jim has testified nine times before the United States Congress (Senate and House subcommittees) concerning legislation involving invasive species in his capacity as an expert in the field. Jim was featured in the nationally broadcast PBS-National Geographic series "Strange Days on Planet Earth," is annually heard on NPR, and was named by the Smithsonian Institution as an "Ocean Hero." As Director, Jim is committed to a curriculum that inspires undergraduates to pursue integrated investigations in the field of maritime studies.
Oceanography
lisa.a.gilbert(at)williams.edu
860-572-5359 ext. 6
Curriculum Vitae
Lisa Gilbert is an Assistant Professor of Geosciences and Marine Sciences at Williams College. She has
taught at Williams-Mystic since 2002. She earned
her Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington, specializing in marine geology and geophysics. Lisa’s research is focused on volcanoes, both undersea and on land. She has participated in more than a dozen oceanographic research expeditions, including
several dives in the deep submergence vehicle Alvin and use of the remotely operated vehicle Jason. Most of her deep sea work is in the Pacific Ocean, with an emphasis on the geophysical and geologic structure Juan de Fuca Ridge, Axial Seamount, and the East Pacific Rise. She is also a field geologist, with projects in Oman, Cyprus, Canada, and the western United States. She has advised several theses and numerous summer research students. Recently, she led a Keck Geology Consortium Project in northern Quebec and Ontario to study the
exquisitely preserved seafloor volcanic and hydrothermal features of the 2.7 billion year old Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Lisa’s work on mid-ocean ridges, seamounts, and other volcanoes has been published in scientific journals such as in Science, Geology, Geophysical Research Letters, and Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. Lisa is active in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, an international effort to explore and study the Earth’s structure and history and Ridge 2000, an interdisciplinary initiative to study the Earth’s oceanic spreading ridge sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Before joining the faculty at Williams, Lisa taught geology and oceanography in Seattle, lectured in astronomy at the Pacific Science Center, and served as an instructor for the Ocean Inquiry Project. She has also taught a variety of field geology courses in the Pacific Northwest, Desert Southwest, and Hawaii. Lisa is an alumna of the Williams-Mystic Program.
History of the Sea
glenn.gordinier(at)mysticseaport.org
860-572-5302 x5089
Curriculum Vitae
Glenn Gordinier earned his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and is the Robert G. Albion Historian at Mystic Seaport. He also is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, where he teaches history. Glenn has served as a Smithsonian Institution Lecturer and a Visiting Instructor for Trinity College and Connecticut College. His publications have involved maritime commerce, seafaring culture, and issues of race and ethnicity. Glenn serves as coordinator of Mystic Seaport's national "Conference on Race, Ethnicity, and Power in Maritime America" and is editor for the volume of conference papers. His publications include Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Power in Maritime America, 2008; Race, Ethnicity and Power in Maritime America, 2005; and Fishing out of Stonington, 2004. He was also a contributor to America and the Sea: A Maritime History, 1998, and has written articles and reviews for numerous peer reviewed publications. Glenn is Co-Director of the Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies at Mystic Seaport, which offers graduate courses in maritime studies. His extensive experience with the museum helps students take advantage of its vast collection of artifacts and vessels. He is well known for his performance of Josiah Gardner, a 19th century master mariner under sail. Acclaimed by The New York Times, his historical portrayal has been seen across the U.S. and abroad.
Marine Policy
katy.hall(at)mysticseaport.org
860-572-5302 ext. 5158
Curriculum Vitae
Catherine Robinson Hall received her J.D. from Vermont Law School and is an environmental attorney concentrating in wetland, coastal and water law. Katy has litigated hundreds of cases relating to watershed, wetland, and coastal resource protection. She has drafted numerous regulatory policies, laws and regulations influencing land and water use, coastal resources, environmental enforcement and administrative practice. As a former Deputy Chief Legal Counsel at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Katy cofounded the agency's environmental mediation program, served as the Department's Public Ethics Officer, and was a liaison between the state environmental agency and federal Environmental Protection Agency to help develop uniform environmental policies. She has published articles on coastal policy (public trust doctrine) and water law. Katy is an alum of the Williams-Mystic Program from the spring of 1984.
Literature of the Sea
richard.king(at)williams.edu
860-572-5302 x5262
Curriculum Vitae
Rich earned his Ph.D. from the University of St Andrews with the Overseas Research Scholarship. His master’s degree is from Wesleyan University where his thesis on cormorants won the Rulewater Prize. Rich has been an instructor of maritime studies with the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole and with the Ocean Classroom Foundation. His research focuses on the connections between sea voyage narratives and natural history. He has written numerous popular and scholarly articles, most recently in Natural History, Scottish Literary Review, Hemingway Review, Ocean Navigator, and Cruising World. He writes a quarterly column titled “Animals in Sea History” for Sea History magazine and is currently at work on an interdisciplinary book titled Lobster (Reaktion, 2010). Rich has been sailing on tall ships for over fifteen years, traveling throughout the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as both a teacher and a sailor. He incorporates the visual and dramatic arts into the Literature of the Sea course at Williams-Mystic. He is a professional illustrator himself, creating ink and watercolor drawings for many of his articles, and, most recently for the Massachusetts Darwin Bicentennial website. He has illustrated two children’s books on maritime topics. With the help of students at Williams-Mystic, he maintains the Searchable Sea Literature website, and he encourages undergraduates in any major to contact him about literature of the sea.
Oceanography
860-572-5359 x6
Diane Bennett is a Visiting Lecturer in Oceanography. Diane received her B.A. from Williams College in 2003 in Computer Science, and then went on to the graduate program in Oceanography at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point, where she earned her Masters in 2008 and is near completion of her Ph.D. Diane specializes in physical oceanography, and is particularly interested in the transport of environmental pollutants in estuaries, where the mixing of salt and fresh water creates interesting flow patterns. Her research focuses on Long Island Sound, and she has spent time at sea as well as in the lab using observations and working with models to test physical theories. She has presented her work at conferences throughout the US, and has studied fluid dynamics in Cambridge, England, and the physics of estuaries in Puerto Morelos, Mexico.
Alumni Relations and Annual Fund
alumni(at)mysticseaport.org
860-572-5359 ext. 1
Bev is a lifelong resident of Southeastern Connecticut and graduated from Connecticut College in 1999 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies after returning to college when her youngest child started school. After graduation, Bev worked at a small Civil Engineering firm where she performed various field testing, then at the Writing Center and in Donor Relations at Connecticut College. Bev and her husband love to kayak whenever possible and together they have two grown children. Bev is very excited to work at Williams-Mystic where she can again work with undergraduates and hopes to apply her degree and her work experiences to the benefit of the W-M Program.
Finance and Administration
catherine.blanchette(at)mysticseaport.org
860-572-5359 ext. 4
Prior to joining the W-M crew in 2006, Catherine worked as an Americorps volunteer, a Head Start teacher, and an editor, journalist, and photographer at Westerly This Week. Originally hailing from western New York, Catherine currently resides in Westerly, RI. Catherine graduated in 2001 from Messiah College with a B.A. in English.
Teaching Assistant for the Sciences
rachel.rockblake(at)mysticseaport.org
860-572-5302 ext. 5026
Rachel Rock-Blake joined the Williams-Mystic staff in the summer of 2009 as Marine Sciences Teaching Assistant and Marine Sciences Laboratory Manager. Rachel graduated in May 2009 from Smith College with a major in Biology and a minor in Studio Art. Rachel has been an RA in Jim Carlton's laboratory since 2008, working on historical and modern-day marine algae biodiversity in Long Island Sound, and on the invasion of a Japanese salt marsh snail in the Pacific Northwest, the latter including parts of two summers at the University of Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) in Charleston, OR. Rachel has worked at the Smith College Botanic Gardens since 2005: that's Rachel's Garden between Carr and Johnston Houses! She is a Williams-Mystic alum.
Admissions Director
admissions(at)williamsmystic.org
860-572-5359 ext. 2
Aislinn is a native New Englander and loves being by the coast. She recently returned from volunteering in the Dominican Republic and is looking forward to experiencing the seasons again. Aislinn graduated from the University of Notre Dame and has a Masters in Education from Harvard. She loves to read and write, and is currently seeking her MFA from Goucher College. Aislinn is a Williams-Mystic alum.
Admissions Counselor
nora.mattern(at)williams.edu
860-572-5359 ext. 5
Nora Mattern graduated in 2007 from Lehigh University and went on to earn her M.A. in Museum Studies from Syracuse University. Before coming to Williams-Mystic, Nora interned and volunteered at a number of museums, spent a summer working for a humanitarian agency in the Philippines, worked as an art history teaching assistant, and studied in Ireland. Because of her strong belief in the importance of museums as classrooms and the value of an interdisciplinary education, Nora is thrilled to join the Williams-Mystic team.
