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Roald Hazelhoff,
Education Advisor
Roald Hazelhoff is the Founder and Executive Director for the Southern Environmental Center (SEC), formerly housed at Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), for over 30 years (1993-2024). The Center built support and awareness to model green initiatives on campus and in surrounding Birmingham communities. Under Roald’s leadership, over $5 million in capital campaign funds were secured since 1996 to construct SEC’s award-winning facilities on BSC’s campus, the largest educational facility of its kind in Alabama. SEC secured an additional $3.9 million between 2008-2023 to transform Turkey Creek Nature Preserve from a local dumping site into a regional destination for 130,000 visitors per year. SEC provided on-site STEMM programming for schools, maintained hiking/mountain bike trails, and helped protect federally endangered species of Vermilion and Rush darter fish. In 2024, Roald started the new Birmingham Urban Watershed STEMM Initiative (BUWSI), modeled after BSC’s award-winning STEMMing the Tide initiative, to incorporate environmental justice and climate change themes into science modules for 11 Birmingham City schools located within the Village Creek watershed. He has worked on a number of advisory boards in a variety of key organizations around the greater Birmingham area, including the Sustainable City Commission for the City of Birmingham, Jones Valley Urban Farm, and UAB’s School of Public Health. Roald’s tireless commitment to environmental stewardship has been recognized by the White House, the Birmingham Business Journal, and Mercedes Benz.
Sophie Lovett,
Communications & Outreach Manager
Sophie is a Birmingham local and attended Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) for three years where she worked with Dr. Roald Hazelhoff at the former Southern Environmental Center (SEC). As the SEC office manager, she helped lead guided tours of the SEC and campus, managed arts and craft activities, in addition to general organization tasks at the Center. While at BSC, she worked with Dr. Meade on the pilot program, Birmingham Urban Watershed STEMM Initiative (BUSWI), collecting data by conducting Fish IBI surveys in local streams. Subsequently, Sophie was a presenter of this data at the Association of Southeastern Biologists Convention in 2023 & 2024. After BSC closed, Sophie transferred to Samford University where she graduated with her bachelors of science degree in environmental science summa cum laude. In her free time, Sophie enjoys reading about wildlife conservation with her two cats, going to trivia night with friends, and taking nature walks at the numerous parks around Birmingham.
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