Elizabeth Balko

Liz recently became an Instructional Designer at Cornell University and is an Adjunct Professor at SUNY-Oswego. Prior to this she was a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University where she designed engaged learning activities and coordinated instruction for two large enrollment courses (Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity; and Ecology and the Environment).
She received her B.S. in Biology from Northern Arizona University (1983), and Ph.D. in Wildlife Biology and Behavioral Ecology (1998) from the State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry. As a Fulbright Scholar, Liz spent the better part of 10 years living and working in Madagascar. She has been designing and teaching study abroad courses for 16 years. These include a 3-month study abroad program in Madagascar, studying marine ecology while sailing among the US and British Virgin Islands, and studying the coral reefs and dolphin communities off the island of Roatan, Honduras. Liz has extensive experience teaching online, residential, and field courses in General Biology, Wildlife Ecology, Wildlife Biology, Human Biology, Animal Behavior, Botany, Cell Physiology, and Zoology. She co-developed and co-taught an online version of Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Diversity, the first distance-learning course offered through Cornell University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Liz is currently a team member of the Madagascar Halt Poverty Ctrl Tourism Project; recipient of the 2015 U.S. State Department Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF).