Gretchen Wilbur, President, builds communities inside and outside of education to resist oppression by joining people together in action to improve the human condition locally and globally. She has been an educational leader for over 30 years and has directed projects with students, teachers, and community partners in educational equity, intercultural communication, and teacher education. Her international experience conducting staff development, research, and study abroad courses in Africa, Europe, and Jamaica informs her leadership of Respecting Culture & Earth. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Vanderbilt University and is Professor Emerita at DePaul University.
Click here to learn about her life in Accompong, Jamaica and the Foundation work with Maroons.
Sheila Lynch, Secretary, is an artist and educator working to facilitate learning and development with individuals, groups and communities. She received her Masters degree in area of Educating Adults with a focus on Community Based Learning from DePaul University; and an MFA in Creative Practice from Transart Institute for Creative Research, School of Art and Media at the University of Plymouth, UK.
Akilah Martin, Ph.D. is first and foremost in partnership with soil and water. She previously was an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at DePaul University - School for New Learning, Currently, she is an Interdisciplinary Planner with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, enhancing individuals and communities’ relationships to environmental and natural resources. As a resourceful civically engaged citizen scholar, she partners with communities in seeking innovative and creative transformative strategies to reimagine our relationships to place and each other for social and ecological flourishing. Guided by 2 core values: Freedom and Joy, she strives to have a vibrant, kinetic, energetic, and symbiotic relationship with the Earth and its entities.
Scott Milnes, Treasurer, is owner and President of Milnes & Co. Inc., specializing in small business accounting and tax preparation services. He has over 40 years of accounting and tax expertise in multi-billion dollar corporations as well as consulting for self-employed businesses, partnerships and S Corporations. Accounting services include payroll, general accounting, financial statement preparation, as well as all aspects of tax compliance and research.
Catherine Marienau, Ph.D., Professor Emerita at DePaul University served on the full-time faculty at the School for New Learning/DePaul for 36 years and now teaches part-time. Her studies in cultural anthropology, curriculum design, human development, and qualitative research prepared her well to mentor and teach adult learners and, currently, to co-host a weekly podcast featuring women ages 70-110, and to present programs on holistic health for older women. Growing up on a farm in Minnesota, she has an affinity with the land and rural life.
Derise E. Tolliver, Ph.D., Professor Emerita at DePaul University is also licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Illinois. Her life mission is to help people “re-member” who they truly are. She has written and presented on African-centered education and psychology, spirituality and culture, adult learning, competence-based education, international education and healing from racism and oppression. She is a Board member of the local chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists and a Board Member and Global Ambassador for Sweet Water Foundation. As a collage artist, her balance of work and play reminds others of the beauty in often undervalued and/or disregarded people, places, experiences and things. She lives in gratitude, finding something to be joyful about and engaging in laughter every day.