Staff Spotlight: Kerianne Gwinnell
From our Fall 2025 Chronicle Alumni Magazine
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Kerianne Gwinnell as the new Director of the Center for Environmental Education at Chewonki! Kerianne joined us last year to lead our Traveling Natural History programs before stepping into this new role.
“What I’m most looking forward to in my new role is the opportunity to connect more people with Chewonki’s natural spaces, vibrant community, and meaningful mission. Environmental education is about so much more than identifying plants or animals. It’s an experience that sparks curiosity, inspires a sense of wonder, and encourages us to care deeply for the world around us and each other,” says Kerianne.
This new position was created in the fall of 2025 to better manage the flow of visiting school groups, onsite and offsite natural history presentations, and make the best use of the education spaces both in the CEE and in our expanded Eastside cabin area.
Kerianne holds a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of Rhode Island. She has worked as an educator, counselor, and eventually director at Clemson University’s marine science camp. Kerianne has developed and implemented camp programming in Massachusetts and later in Maine as a marine science educator at Herring Gut Coastal Science Center. In her free time, Kerianne enjoys birding, tide-pooling, and exploring Maine with her family.
