MSL Advisory Committee

Andrés Clarens is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia. Furthermore, he serves as the Director of the Clarens Lab and as an Associate Director of the Pan-University Environmental Resilience Institute. His research related to climate change and sustainability is focused on understanding anthropogenic carbon flows and the ways that CO2 is manipulated, reused, and sequestered in engineered systems. Beyond his academic pursuits, he’s also the proud dad to three children, the son of Cuban immigrants, and enthusiastic about outdoor activities such as hiking, fly fishing, backpacking, and skiing.

Phoebe Crisman is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia who specializes in and teaches on subjects related to architectural theory, urbanism, and sustainability. Among her many roles and accomplishments, she’s the Director of UVA’s Interdisciplinary Major in Global Studies and the Global Environments + Sustainability concentration. She is also the Principal of UVA’s International Residential College. She has worked closely with Morven in the past as a Morven Summer Institute instructor. Crisman’s research revolves around the design of sustainable relationships between specific cultures and their built environments. By employing different ecological and cultural sustainability strategies across multiple scales and sites, she investigates complex relationships between human inhabitation, environmental restoration, and sustainability education.

Paul Freedman is Director of the Environmental Thought and Practice major at the University of Virginia, and Associate Professor in the Department of Politics. His research and teaching focus on elections, media and politics, environmental politics, and the politics of food. Freedman serves as Academic Director of the Morven Summer Institute, is a member of the University’s Committee on Sustainability, and is a co-leader of the University of Virginia Sustainable Food Collaborative. Freedman is co-author of Campaign Advertising and American Democracy, and his work has appeared in numerous academic journals. He is the recipient of the UVA Alumni Board of Trustees Teaching Award and was the first Edward L. Ayers Advising Fellow. Since 2000, he has been an election analyst for ABC News in New York.

Genevieve Keller, Adjunct Faculty In Historic Preservation, at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, is a nationally known leader in historic preservation and cultural landscape practice and theory. Passionate about the relationship between people and place, Genevieve engages in public, private and academic practice combining a realistic assessment of political sensibilities with a firm belief in the power of visioning for inclusive, adaptive, and resilient historic places. She’s also a founding principal of Land and Community Associates, an award-winning firm which is known for its cross-disciplinary planning and landscape preservation initiatives that led to a significant increase in awareness and protection of many significant landscapes found across the United States. She is the immediate past Chair of Preservation Virginia's Board of Trustees, and is the current president of Preservation Piedmont.

Manuel Lerdau is a Professor with the Department of Environmental Sciences who holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Biology. He is an organismal ecologist with interests in the ecosystem implications of physiological processes and the evolutionary underpinnings of those processes. Lerdau’s research centers around questions related to resource acquisition and allocation in plants and focuses on related topics such as herbivory and tri-trophic interactions, atmospheric chemistry and air pollution, and community and ecosystem impacts of biological invasions. Most recently, he has begun to look at structure-function relationships in plants and the impacts of those relationships on ecosystems and the atmosphere. Prior to arriving at UVA in 2007, Lerdau spent 12 years as a professor at SUNY Stony Brook, and before that he was a post-doctoral fellow working on analytical chemistry at NASA Ames. He received his PhD from Stanford and his BA from Harvard (both in Biology). In addition to his current research interests, Lerdau is a somewhat fanatical birdwatcher who worked (prior to becoming an academic) for the US Fish and Wildlife Service studying songbirds in the eastern USA and colonial waterbirds in California.

Garrick Louis is an Associate Professor of Systems and Information Engineering and Engineering and Society at the University of Virginia. He is also the director of the Small Infrastructure and Development Center and the director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Systems and Information Engineering. His current research seeks to build capacity for sustained access to essential human services, including water sanitation and hygiene, in marginalized communities. He holds BSc. and MSc. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy. His distinguished career has included honors such as; 2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation, 2006-7 AAAS Energy Environment and Natural Resources Fellow, 2014 Design and Health Faculty Fellow at the University of Virginia, a 2015-16 Jefferson Science Fellow in the Office of Global Food Security at the US Department of State, and is currently a Fulbright Specialist for the US Department of State.

Andrea Trimble is the Sustainability Director at the University of Virginia and has been a leader in sustainability in higher education for over 17 years. Andrea leads UVA's Office for Sustainability team, with focus on pan-University strategic planning and programs in engagement, communication, analysis, and sustainable operations on a range of scales and across impact areas. Prior to joining UVA in November 2013, she managed Harvard University’s sustainable building program, taught university courses in design and sustainability, and worked in architecture, historic preservation, and sustainability consulting. Andrea is co-chair of the Ivy+ Sustainability Consortium, a member of the DOE Better Buildings Alliance Higher Education Sector Group Steering Committee and is on the Board of Directors for Second Street Gallery. Outside of work, Andrea is a visual artist whose art focuses on climate change and is co-founder of Draw Charlottesville.

Rebecca Deeds is the Director of UVA’s Morven Programs and has been part of the Morven team for ten years. Rebecca received a B.A. from the University of Virginia in English and Comparative Literature in 2009 and has a background in politics, small business management, and equestrian coaching. Her role in mental healthcare advocacy includes published works for Glamour Magazine and keynote speaking roles for Our Minds Matter. She was appointed by the Governor to the Virginia Board of Art and Architectural Review in July 2020 and currently serves as vice-chair. She has served on the Board of Directors for Preservation Piedmont since January 2017 and was appointed President and CEO 2021-2023. She is a graduate of the 2019 Campaign School at Yale.

Elton Oliver has been the Morven Estate Manager for the Morven Farm operation for 17 years. He is responsible for overall property management, supervision of grounds and buildings staffs, event support for Morven Programs and coordination with the UVA Foundation Asset Management Team concerning property utilization. Included in a 38 year association with Morven, Elton was employed by JWK Properties, Inc., owned by John W. Kluge, as the Business Manager for 15 years and the Managing Director for 6 years of the Morven Farms operation preceding the property being gifted to UVA Foundation. Elton received a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce in 1974 and then went on to work as a commercial bank examiner with the Bureau of Financial Institutions, Richmond, Virginia from 1974 to 1981, staff accountant with Preston Morris & Co., 1982-1985 and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1985.

Justin Mallory is the Morven Asset Management Associate. Justin previously worked with a local builder, where he gained extensive experience in residential construction and management. He is a graduate of both Elon University and Florida State, and he currently serves as a board member for the Albemarle County Farm Bureau and the Monticello Area Community Action Agency. In his spare time, he and his family operate their 5th-generation family farm in Albemarle County.