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Special Species Project Founder
Barbara "Ms. B" Moran
Instructor
-- Skagit Valley College
Since 1990, "Ms. B" (as students call her) has edited and published
the nature writings and art of school children in five separate editions
of Special Species books.
Respected writer, editor, and educator, she is author of The Internet Directory for
Kids & Parents. She contributed a chapter
on multimedia writing in the newest edition of English for Careers,
a Prentice-Hall textbook by Leila R. Smith.
Barbara Moran's newest book is Crafting
Multimedia Text: Websites and Presentations
(Prentice-Hall).
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Prior to teaching at Skagit
Valley College in Washington state, she was a lecturer for the School of Education
at San Francisco State University. She spent summers teaching kids computers at
San Mateo Community College District's College for Kids in San Mateo
County, CA, where she also served as an adjunct faculty member. Her Masters degree
is in Education (instructional technology).
The former
staff writer for The Atlanta
Constitution and The San Diego
Union
traveled the globe on
assignment, including a trek to the remote mountains of China to
report on endangered pandas. Ms. Moran has freelanced for
nature magazines such as ZooNooz and newspapers such as
The
Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco
Chronicle.
A trained
horticulturist and naturalist, she has researched and written
zoo exhibit signs, biology
definitions for a collegiate science dictionary, and contributed
science text to a children's encyclopedia.
Among kudos for the Special
Species Project: the "Newsweek Environmental Class Act Challenge Award" and
the KGTV (San Diego) "Leadership Award." Ms. B visited the White House in 1993
with a delegation of students to receive recognition.
As a child,
Ms. B watched neighboring farmland turn into suburbia. Creeks became
culverts and woodlands fell for mall and housing developments with
names such as Forest Park and Oak Knoll. Her mom rescued displaced
wildlife. Her dad tolerated baby
foxes
attacking his ankles and injured woodpeckers hammering on the
furniture. Growing up in the company of orphaned, displaced and
injured animals, Ms. B learned early the value of caring for native
habitats and species. "Ultimately, it's about saving our own quality
of life here on earth," she said recently.
A mom and gramma, Ms. B
is married to her best friend, retired trauma psychologist Bob Baker. The family
lives in rural Washington state with an assortment of mostly rescued animals, including (at last count) three dogs, a
rooster, a sheep, horses, a cat, a cockatiel and a box turtle. In their "spare"
time, they run Operation TeddyCare.
These Are a Few of Ms.
B's Favorite Things
Favorite
Inspiration
"In the end,
we will conserve
only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will
understand only what we are taught." Baba Dioum, Senegalese
Naturalist