Hi! I’m Chris

Mentor

Chris’ history with GRP is a long one, dating back to an encounter with Sandy in early 1992 at a public library. As soon as Chris heard him speak, he begged his parents to sign him up. Chris was a camper for four years, came back as a CIT for the best summers of his life 1999-2001, and then fulfilled a childhood dream becoming a mentor in 2005 (and introducing his spouse Anna Bauer to the joys of life at GRP). Fast-forward a decade or so, and Chris is living the dream with his own children, Emma and Lucy at Green River becoming campers themselves. Chris joined the Board of Directors for GRP in 2017, and is honored to get to keep coming back as a guest mentor, now in his 13th summer spent at camp. In his spare time (just kidding), Chris is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration at North Carolina Central University, and he serves as Vice President on the Alumni Board of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, and on the Board of Trustees for Duke University, where he received an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Chinese, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Policy and Global Health. Chris conducts research in the United States and in sub-Saharan Africa, studying health and climate change.

When Chris has the good fortune to be in the backcountry, he love to cook camping pad thai, with rice noodles, some sauce, and any veggies to be found. Chris loves hiking, canoeing, skiing, and really anything that gets him outdoors. This includes most especially sharing the outdoors with children, and anyone who wants to realize the joys of the world like children do, from a pouring waterfall to phosphorescent wood.

Chris has spent a lot of time exploring the Green River Valley, seeing it under total eclipse, in the snow, on a winter night well below freezing to the heat of summer thunderstorms. He has also had some great adventures elsewhere, notably in Mali hiking the cliffs of Dogon Country (2008), in China hiking the wild parts of the Great Wall (2004), and of course, spending the dawn of the millennium at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (1999/2000). Yet, having traveled to more than thirty countries, the Green River Preserve remains the most important, beautiful place in the world to him.