Ms. Jessica Coleman joined the Friends board in 2018, and was reappointed to the board in 2021 and elected to be the Board’s Secretary. More recently (2023) she moved to the Treasurer position. On top of her board responsibilities Jessica is a Senior Lecturer and Graduate Teaching Coordinator for the department of biology at The University of Texas at Tyler. She currently teaches General Biology I and II. Additionally, she teaches two additional upper-division courses, which include: Ornithology and Conservation Biology. Ms. Coleman engages in field research while involving undergraduate and graduate students to provide them the opportunity to learn proper research techniques (Current research focus is in Avian Ecology). She finds that conducting research helps the scientific community while the field experience is an invaluable resource in the classroom.