We can't wait to celebrate with you!
Our seventy-five year legacy would not be possible without the support of our beloved community. Thank you for helping us get here.
Help us celebrate 75 years of the Norman Bird Sanctuary in 2024! Explore a full calendar of celebratory and commemorative programming, learn more about our history, and discover decades of archival materials in our new digital archive.
Kaity Ryan was appointed by the Board of Directors in 2019 as the 10th Executive Director of the Norman Bird Sanctuary. Kaity brings more than fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of preservation, education, conservation, and the arts.
A certified architectural historian with a master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Kaity was appointed by the Governor of Rhode Island to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission in 2018.
Jennifer Bissonnette is an ecologist and marine scientist whose work engages techniques of transdisciplinary inquiry to merge natural sciences knowledge, techniques and methods of inquiry with art and design thinking and studio practices. With a BS in biology from Eckerd College and a PhD in marine science from the College of William and Mary/Virginia Institute of Marine Science, she focuses broadly on human-nature connections and systems thinking to help innovate design solutions to environmental and societal challenges.
Artist and researcher Nina Elder creates projects that reveal humanity’s dependence on, and interruption of, the natural world. With a focus on changing cultures and ecologies, Nina advocates for collaboration, fostering relationships between institutions, artists, scientists and diverse communities. She is the co-founder of the Wheelhouse Institute, a women’s climate leadership initiative. Nina lectures as a visiting artist/scholar at universities, develops publicly engaged programs, and consults with organizations that seek to grow through interdisciplinary programming.
Amy Montague is the Special Projects Curator at Mass Audubon’s Museum of American Bird Art. After guiding the Museum as its director for 32 years, Amy now….
Robyn manages the research, education, and communication initiatives for NestWatch, the Cornell Lab’s citizen-science project focused on nesting birds. The Cornell Lab has been monitoring nesting birds’ reproductive success since the 1960s, and this long-term database is the nation’s richest source of information on avian reproductive biology. A large focal area of the project is nest boxes, and how best to provide them and support the birds which use them. Through NestWatch, Robyn’s research and writing focuses on small things we can all do to help birds every day.
Dr. Amy Johnson is a Conservation Biologist and Program Director of Smithsonian’s Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL). In this role, Johnson leads a team that cultivates a dynamic network of private landowners, citizen scientists, NGO’s, state agencies and scientists to collectively investigate the impacts of conservation management and land use on biodiversity. VWL research activities occur almost entirely on privately-owned working lands, demonstrating the importance of multi-faceted collaborations for acquiring the knowledge needed to move conservation forward in human-dominated landscapes.
Silvermoon Mars LaRose is a member of the Narragansett Tribe, devoted to her family, and always striving to be a good Auntie to all within her community. As the Assistant Director of the Tomaquag Museum, she is dedicated to the sharing of cultural education and the preservation of cultural belongings held in trust for future generations. Silvermoon has worked in tribal communities for over 20 years, serving in the areas of health and human services, education, and humanities. In 2022, Silvermoon participated in the Rhode Island Foundation’s inaugural Equity Leadership Initiative cohort and now sits on its steering committee. As a public servant, Silvermoon serves on the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts, and as the secretary for the Charlestown Conservation Commission. Additionally, she is the vice chair for the Avenue Concept supporting local public art ecosystems. As an artist and educator, she hopes to foster Indigenous empowerment through education, community building, and the sharing of cultural knowledge and traditional arts. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, a minor in Justice Law and Society from the University of Rhode Island, and a partially completed Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from Western Washington University.
Our seventy-five year legacy would not be possible without the support of our beloved community. Thank you for helping us get here.