Brittany Slabach ’09, terrestrial biology
Photo by Will Draxler ’26.
By Jeremy Powers ’24
Campus is always abuzz with new faces. In the fall, there’s the incoming class, eager to craft new memories and discover what human ecology is really all about. This year we have some new staff and faculty, notably our president, who takes the helm as the college finds itself at the cusp of an exciting new chapter. But there’s at least one new face that’s not so new after all: COA alum Brittany Slabach ’09, who is thrilled to rejoin College of the Atlantic as the new Kim M. Wentworth Chair in Environmental Studies.
A conservation ecologist by trade and a human ecologist by nature, Slabach leans toward an experiential approach to most things, especially her teaching practice—instead of bringing the population dynamics of mountain-top mammals to the classroom, Slabach prefers to bring the classroom to the mountaintop mammals themselves.
“My goal is really to teach students to not fear complexity and instead embrace it—I think one of the best ways to do that is to dive in head first,” she says. “It isn't a matter of just talking about theory and how it works in the real world—it's about actually getting out there and doing it, because nothing is ever as it seems in a textbook.”
Slabach has spent the last few years teaching and studying vertebrate ecology, culminating in a Schoodic Institute-funded study that investigated how recreational trail use affects mammal populations living on the mountain-tops of Acadia National Park. The project involved several current COA students and faculty, and Slabach plans to implement several aspects of that project into her teaching here.
She also emphasizes that although she’s the professor, she also holds a role as a learner. “My students are in the driver’s seat. They keep me on my toes, which I appreciate,” she laughs. “I really try to build in flexibility and leave room for, as I refer to them, tangents of learning.”
This approach lends itself well to fostering a highly flexible and dynamic dialogue driven by student interests. “Say, for example, that we’ve talked about hagfish, and everybody's really curious about hagfish slime. So we’ll spend time talking about what makes hagfish slime special.”
Slabach’s courses include Wildlife Ecology and Biology: Form and Function. She also teaches Invertebrate Zoology, where she takes students on a deep dive into the physiology and ecology of invertebrate organisms, and Ecology: Natural History, where students learn about foundational ecological principles by doing hands-on field work in and around the diverse ecological communities on Mount Desert Island.
“College of the Atlantic is the place where, as a student, I fell in love with teaching and really decided that I wanted to pursue it as a career, professionally,” she says, remarking that stepping into the role of a faculty member at her alma mater still feels very strange and serendipitous.
“It wasn't something that I thought was in the cards or that I was really consciously shooting for,” she reflects. “It happened fairly naturally in a way that I don't think I've quite yet come to grips with. It's been truly wonderful to be back.”
Slabach holds a PhD in biology from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Science degree in biology from Tufts University. When she’s not leading class discussions on hagfish slime or guiding students through delicate intertidal ecosystems, she likes to hang out with her family, go for walks with her dogs, and bake pies and cakes. “I also like to make candy,” she says. “It’s nice to live in a colder place again—the caramel sets better.”
