CITL Faculty Fellow 2022-23; Lecturer and Co-coordinator, College 1, Rachel Carson College
Hello all, I’m Clara Weygandt, and my pronouns are she/her. I started teaching the Rachel Carson College core course at UCSC in 2008, and I’ve been teaching it ever since. In my previous lives I’ve worked as a botanical ranger in Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park, as a botanical consultant for private firms and with rare and endangered bird populations for various Western states. I have two degrees in Environmental studies, one focusing on natural history, the other on nature & environmental writing. I tend to get enthusiastic about things, talk too fast, think while I’m talking and get a bit distracted. I like complexity, and I’m comfortable with creativity & chaos (my father was an artist and my mother a classical pianist) I spent 12 years as a caregiver for my parents (dementia & cancer respectively) which has deepened my understanding and compassion, and also made me more radical. I tend towards anxiety and OCD, which comes out in being overly interested in cooking & gaming. In addition, I can be very serious and very silly. I love teaching almost as much as I love nature, which is saying something.