Faculty and Staff

Michelle Prysby

VMN Program Director

mprysby@vt.edu
434-872-4571

Mailing address:
Virginia Cooperative Extension
460 Stagecoach Road
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Michelle helped launch the Virginia Master Naturalist program in 2005 and served as the statewide coordinator until 2012. She returned in 2014 to serve as the Special Projects Coordinator, and became the director of the program in 2015.

She is a Senior Extension Specialist faculty member in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech, but her office is in Charlottesville. She provides assistance to the state’s 30 VMN chapters; teaches basic and continuing education courses; leads development of new training resources and program initiatives; and engages with sponsoring agencies, partnering organizations, and national organizations to support the program’s mission.

Michelle loves working with the amazing cadre of VMN volunteers to benefit Virginia’s natural resources. She has a particular interest in citizen science, and, as part of her Master’s research in ecology at the University of Minnesota, she started the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. Michelle’s other professional roles have included Citizen Science Director at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont and Director of Science Education and Public Outreach at the University of Virginia. She is also an active Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer in the Rivanna Chapter. For her VMN volunteer service, she assists with stream cleanups in Charlottesville, monitors a site on the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, conducts vernal pool monitoring, and gives talks on frogs and other topics for local community groups.

Tiffany Brown

VMN Program Assistant

tiffany.brown@vt.edu
540-231-0790

Mailing address:
242 Cheatham Hall (0324)
310 West Campus Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061

Tiffany Brown is the volunteer and administrative support for the Virginia Master Naturalist Program. She serves as a liaison with volunteers by advising them on program policies and best practices, and responding to public and volunteer inquiries. Tiffany supports the VMN program by updating and maintaining program documents and assisting volunteers with the use of the online volunteer management system, Better Impact. She also handles logistics and planning for statewide and regional conferences and meetings, collects and compiles annual reports, and manages program budgets and accounts.

Tiffany works out of the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. She resides in Christiansburg with her two daughters, Amalie and River, whom she enjoys dragging out to go on adventures.

VMN Student Assistant for Communications and Volunteer Engagement

Katherine (Kat) Myer is the current Virginia Master Naturalist Student Assistant for Communications and Volunteer Engagement. Kat is working on several different activities, including developing content for social media, collecting photos and videos to tell the story of VMN program impacts, and assisting with office tasks such as volunteer recognition item distribution.

Kat is a Senior at Virginia Tech majoring in Environmental Conservation and Society and minoring in Biodiversity Conservation. She grew up in Clarke County, Virginia, and enjoys paddling the Shenandoah River and spending time with her family, two dogs, and orange cat when she is home. Over the past three years as a Virginia Tech student, Kat has enjoyed getting to know the New River Valley region and the town of Blacksburg. She loves to put up her hammock and read on campus or by the river, take long walks with her friends, and bake (favorably chocolate chip cookies). In school, Kat is Vice President of Community Relations in her sorority and on the Philanthropy Committee in her pre-law fraternity. Outside of academics and student engagement, Kat loves attending VT football games and going to the Blacksburg Farmer’s Market on Sunday mornings.