10/07/2019
Beth Shiner Klein has walked the path of a park ranger, a science-oriented elementary and middle school teacher, and an academic lecturer, having given talks aboard U.S. Navy Oceanographic Survey ships.
So it’s only fitting that the multi-talented Klein, a 2016 recipient of the State University of New York’s SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Faculty Service, was chosen to offer standout SUNY Cortland students guidance for their journey during the university’s Fall 2019 President’s List Reception.
Klein, a professor of childhood/early childhood education in the university’s School of Education, addressed 203 honorees who attended the Oct. 7 event with their families in the Corey Union Function Room.
The President’s List is the College’s highest honor for students who excel academically. It acknowledges students enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours who achieve grades of A- or better in each of their courses. In Fall 2018, 9.7 % of the full-time student body reached this level of achievement.
SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum opened the reception, which recognized 593 students this year.
Klein, who joined the university in 1999, teaches courses in elementary science education and environmental studies. She also serves as the campus sustainability coordinator and the faculty coordinator for the Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education.
She has a Doctor of Education in Science Education from the University of Virginia, a Master of Science in Education in Reading from East Stroudsburg University and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University.
Klein has provided more than 100 professional development presentations and workshops in science, technology and environmental education in a variety of settings.
The university has honored her numerous times for research and teaching. She wrote or co-authored many scholarly publications, including a 2015 book chapter on “George William Jeffers: Dedicated Teacher, Scholar and Change Agent,” in Going Back for Our Future II: Carrying Forward the Spirit of Pioneers of Science Education. She was inducted as an honorary member into the campus chapter of Phi Kappa Phi in 2006.
Within the community, Klein is co-founder and board president of the community group Sustainable Cortland.
Klein and her husband, Karl, live in a home powered by solar panels on 11 acres where they maintain an organic garden and experiment with permaculture.
Next spring, a second President’s List Reception ceremony will be held to recognize Fall 2019 honorees in conjunction with the College’s Academic Hall of Fame Award to a gifted former student who has excelled in their field.
Image above left: Area schoolchildren tried their hand at digging potatoes and planting garlic during a 2018 fall harvest activity at raised bed gardens on the quad outside of Memorial Library, an event organized by Beth Klein when she headed the Childhood/Early Childhood Education Department.