Megan Perry, M.S.

CEO

Megan has developed her lifelong love of wild things and places into a career as a wildlife biologist and educator. She has been the co-director for the Wild Semester Study Away Program since 2011. She received her B.S. in Biology from Furman University where she was a student on the first Wild Semester program. She received her M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Clemson University studying mountain lion populations in southern New Mexico. Since then she has worked as a contract wildlife biologist and continues to volunteer for the Furman Cougar Project managing data and supervising undergraduate students in the field.

Jesse Woodsmith, M.S.

Secretary - Board of Directors

Jesse is a wildlife biologist who most enjoys working with conservation non-profit organizations to protect and improve special landscapes. In her 5 years working with land trusts, she has helped conserve more than 12,000 acres of valuable habitat and water resources and steward tens of thousands more. Through an AmeriCorps program with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, she provided boots on the ground service to educate the public, improve trails and waterways, and enforce private land conservation easements. Jesse looks for ways to connect research to practitioners and build more effective conservation partnerships between public and private entities. She has analyzed USFS data for SC Audubon, informed landowners on avian-friendly forest management practices using USDA-NRCS funds, and written on conservation in the age of anthromes. She currently serves as the Director of Conservation & Stewardship at the Southern Conservation Trust, a land trust dedicated to connecting people to nature and providing environmental education. Jesse holds a M.S. in wildlife biology from Clemson University and a B.S. in biology from Furman University. She is a Wild Semester Alumna. Jesse lives in Georgia with her husband and Carolina dingo.

Leslie Clark

Treasurer - Board of Directors

Leslie has experience in all stages of technology enablement. Her strong suit is business process design/improvement. In addition, she has experience with government contracting and compliance.

Leslie has experience with small technology companies and is currently on an engagement with Field and Marketing group working on global strategic projects.

Keenan Adams, Ph.D.

Board of Directors

Keenan was a military brat, however South Carolina is considered home.  Adams attended Furman University where he took a Research & Analysis course with Dr. Travis Perry, which inspired him to switch his major from Pre-Med to a Natural Resource focused B.S. in Biology.  After Furman, he attended Clemson University and was awarded his M.S. degree in Forest Resources (avian and disturbance ecology) and PhD in Wildlife Biology with a concentration in human dimensions. 

He has spent the last 15 years working as a land manager and scientist for several agencies in many parts of the country.  Now he is working in Puerto Rico at the intersection of sustainable eco-tourism, community well-being and land management. He is serving on the board in his personal capacity and not a representative of the government. .

Tricia Rossettie, M.S.

Board of Directors

An avid hiker and naturalist, Tricia Rossettie received her Bachelor's in Biology and Health & Exercise Sciences at Furman University ('12) and is an alumna of Furman's 2011 Wild Semester class. She dabbled in Wildlife Research, Environmental Education, and trail building/Conservation Corps life before returning to academia for her Master's degree in Wildlife Science from New Mexico State University ('19). While at NMSU, she helped to establish their Girls on Adventures for Leadership and Science Program and served in the University's Outdoor Leadership Program, often teaching Wilderness First Aid courses. Experiential and immersive education remain among her greatest passions and she has assisted with all Furman University programming in New Mexico since 2015. She now works as the Wildlife Program Coordinator at Vermejo, a Ted Turner Reserve.

Jenn Summers, Ph.D.

Board of Directors

Jennifer (Jenn) Summers is a Program Officer at the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program. Before joining the GRP, Summers was an NAS Science Policy Fellow with the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restore Council (RESTORE) where she worked on grant management for restoration projects focused on Gulf coast restoration after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Prior to that she earned her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Her dissertation work examined the impacts of sea level rise on rapid evolution in a foundational coastal marsh plant. This research involved collaboration with and training from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Oak Ridge National Lab, and the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center along with driven and talented students and researchers at both UTK and Tulane University, where she started her degree. Summers earned her Bachelor’s in Biology and French from Furman University in South Carolina.