Peter Boger, Assistant Director for Community Engagement, Penn State’s Sustainability Institute

Dr. Peter Boger helps the Sustainability Institute articulate and implement its vision for community engagement, integrating Penn State’s sustainability initiatives with the needs and goals of government and non-profit partners throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a focus on environmental media and history and a B.A. in history from Princeton University. Previously, he was director of Tales from Planet Earth, the largest free-admission environmental film festival in the U.S. He also worked for four years as special assistant to New Jersey’s Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Peter Buck, Academic Programs Manager, Penn State’s Sustainability Institute

Dr. Peter Buck manages academic programming for Penn State’s Sustainability Institute. He connects and catalyzes faculty, staff, students, and the public to imaginatively integrate sustainability into academics, outreach, operations, and research. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Theory and Policy and an M.A. and a B.A. in Music with a minor in Creative Writing. Until June 2019, Peter served as the Vice Chair and Chair of the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors. Currently, he chairs an intergovernmental solar power purchase agreement working group, serves on the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium, on the National Council on Science and the Environment’s Advisory Board for Drawdown, and on the Board of the Penns Valley Conservation Association.

Lisa Davis, Director, Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health

Since 1999, Lisa Davis has served as director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health (PORH). PORH provides expertise in the areas of rural health, agricultural health & safety, oral health, and community & economic development and works to enhance the health status of rural Pennsylvanians and ensure that rural residents have access to high-quality, affordable health care. Lisa holds a master’s in public health administration from Penn State University. Prior to PORH, Davis worked with schizophrenics in community-based mental health programs and in federally funded programs to help vulnerable populations find employment.

Rebecca Kishbaugh, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Pennsylvania Department of Health

Rebecca Kishbaugh is the director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in the Pennsylvania Department of Health, focusing on providing leadership and strategic direction to assess, plan, implement and evaluate cancer control in Pennsylvania. Kishbaugh has been re-building a statewide cancer coalition engaged in the development and implementation of the Pennsylvania Cancer Control Plan. She holds a B.S.W in Social Work from Elizabethtown College, and is a 2004 graduate of the Leadership Development Institute for Women in State Government. Previously, Becky was the Section Manager for Cardiovascular Health at the PA Department of Health and worked within other public health programs to address the risk factors associated with chronic disease before moving into the Cancer Division.

Ruth McDermott-Levy, Associate Professor & Co-Director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment (PEHSU Region 3), M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University

An expert in environmental health, global health, and public health nursing, Dr. Ruth McDermott-Levy has taught and conducted research in Philadelphia’s Arab-American and immigrant communities, with community health workers in Nicaragua, and in the Marcellus Shale region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. She has advocated for health protective regulations for those who live in oil and gas development communities and developed recommendations and teaching strategies to incorporate environmental health and climate change into the nursing curricula. Dr. McDermott-Levy is a co-editor of an open-access environmental health textbook for nurses, Environmental Health in Nursing. In 2018, she received the Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Health and Environmental Sciences Award for teaching and research. She received her Ph.D. from Villanova University and a master’s in public health from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.