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OFRI’s longtime director of K-12 education programs, Norie Dimeo-Ediger, is retiring this month after 25 years at the Institute, with plans to spend more time with family and friends.
Norie led OFRI’s K-12 education program, including coordinating teacher professional development and overseeing the production of an array of educational publications, curriculum and other resources aimed to help students from preschool through high school learn about forests and the many benefits they provide to Oregonians.
Having worked in education for more than 20 years, Norie believes strongly in the importance of providing teachers with the tools, knowledge and strategies they need to be successful. She organized OFRI’s annual natural resources educator conference and numerous other professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers and environmental educators. She worked closely with the OFRI-funded Oregon Natural Resources Education Program, part of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, to offer professional development for educators and environmental education curriculum resources that encourage teachers to engage their students in nature-based learning.
Norie was also instrumental in the development and subsequent updates of the Oregon Forest Literacy Plan for educators, a conceptual guide to teaching and learning about Oregon’s forests that OFRI created in collaboration with numerous partners in forest education.
Before joining OFRI in 1999, Norie worked with natural resource institutions such as the Oregon Zoo and the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, where she provided professional development to teachers in science education. She has master’s degrees in both science education and adult education.
In 2011, she was recognized nationally for her work with Project Learning Tree, a program of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The same year, she received the Oregon State Forester’s award for excellence in forestry education.
The OFRI staff and board would like to thank Norie for her more than two decades of service to OFRI and all she has done to promote forest education in Oregon, helping inspire an interest and appreciation for forestry and environmental stewardship in the next generation. We wish her all the best in her retirement!
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