CITE Graduate Appointed Acting Environmental Protection Secretary

Stephanie Timmermeyer, M.S. Environmental Science 1997, has been appointed Acting Environmental Protection Secretary for West Virginia.  Congratulations Stephanie! 

Stephanie states, "The graduate program in Environmental Science gave me a chance to fully explore my interest in this inter-disciplinary field and enabled me to land my first job in environmental work.  The variety of courses, as well as the full-time and adjunct professors who work every day in the fields they teach, help make the graduate program effective and dynamic."

The article below appeared in the Charleston Daily Mail January 29, 2003.

Bringing DEPth to the job:  Love for the outdoors and an indoors job has
acting secretary in a tug of war

by Brian Bowling <brianbowling@dailymail.com> Charleston Daily Mail staff

The state's acting environmental protection secretary hopes to spend more time indoors because she loves working outdoors.

The daughter of educators, 33-year-old Stephanie Timmermeyer has always faced an indoor-outdoor tug of war. Every time she gets a job outdoors, curiosity leads her back indoors -- either to a classroom or a government office.

Her love of the outdoors started early. Timmermeyer said she and her two brothers basically grew up outdoors in rural Bryans Road, Md.

"Where I grew up there were acres and acres of woods. That's slowly diminishing as the area grows up," she said. "We spent a lot of time out in the woods climbing trees, playing in the creek, catching crayfish -- all that kind of stuff."

Living on the Chesapeake Bay and participating in the Girl Scouts, Timmermeyer developed an early interest in environmental issues, but she also felt her first tug indoors when she became interested in math and science. By high school, she was taking college-level math courses.

"Once I got into school, I started getting interested in some other things -- the school newspaper and Latin club -- yeah, I was a big nerd," she said with laugh.

In addition to being educators, her parents were military veterans, so after high school Timmermeyer initially set out to get an electrical engineering degree at the Coast Guard Academy. But the outdoors tugged her back.

"I sort of had that background and had an idea that that's where I wanted to go," she said of the academy. "But, really, the whole situation just didn't feel right for me -- the major I was in and the military -- so I just made the decision to try something else."

The something else was enrolling in West Virginia University's forestry program, where her older brother was already pursuing a forestry degree.

"I wasn't sure if that would remain my major, but I just actually loved it," she said.

One of the main attractions was that many of the classes were outdoors. After college, however, Timmermeyer didn't follow most of her fellow graduates into a forestry job that would have her cruising timber stands on her own. Instead, she became a right-of-way maintenance supervisor for American Electric Power.

"I wanted a job where I could be around people more and interact with people," she said.

Working outdoors with others, however, apparently didn't satisfy the intellectual side of her nature. Timmermeyer became interested in the company's experiments with different ways of maintaining rights of way.

"Is it better for the tree trimmers to come on the right of way with all their trucks, with chainsaws that leak gas and oil, and you're leaving brush piled up and, in some cases probably causing erosion?

"Or is it better to target just those species that may cause a problem -- spray herbicide right on the leaves and kill that one tree?

"Those are the kinds of issues where I sort of started thinking about the different kinds of methods and which method will have the least detrimental effect on the environment in that area," she said.

Her fascination with the subject drove Timmermeyer to start taking night classes in environmental science in Marshall University's graduate program. With a master's in environmental science, she became an environmental consultant.

One of her fondest memories is spending two weeks on a river survey.

"How can you not like doing that kind of work? I mean, you're outside all day -- walking through the river, taking samples, seeing all the different types of trout -- it's amazing work. You just stand there and think, ‘I'm getting paid to do this,' " she said.

Within a year or so, however, she was back indoors at WVU pursuing a law degree.

Timmermeyer said she started getting interested in environmental law as early as a forest policy and administration class she took to get her bachelor's degree.

As part of her master's degree, she had to take a class in environmental law.

"That just kind of sealed it for me," she said.

Approaching 30, she felt that if she didn't go to law school then, she never would.

At the same time, she wasn't looking forward to spending another three years in classrooms. While she accelerated her bachelor's degree by taking extra classes and summer classes, that wasn't an option.

"You have to go for three years. I actually looked into that," she said. "I'm always all about trying to get out of school a little bit earlier and get back out and get a job."

Despite her reservations, Timmermeyer decided it was worth a shot.

"I'm pretty much of the attitude that I'll try anything for a year, and if it didn't suit me I wouldn't have stayed," she said.

After law school, Timmermeyer spent a few months working for Charleston law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle before former Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Callaghan tapped her to be state air quality director.

When Callaghan resigned to become communications director for the state Democratic Party, Gov. Bob Wise picked Timmermeyer to be the acting environmental protection secretary. She hopes he'll pick her as Callaghan's replacement.

Why pursue a position that means more time indoors doing paperwork and attending meetings?

"There are certain fields, and I think environmental science is one of those fields -- any type of environmental work -- that people who are in it are just passionate about it.

"I see that with the people that work in this agency. They just absolutely are passionate about their jobs and the job they do and about the environment. It's just one of those fields that it's not just a job for us, it's really what we want to do with our lives. So it's not something I can -- I can't really explain it," she said.

Writer Brian Bowling can be reached at 348-4842.