NYS IPM Adds Lampman as Community IPM Specialist

GENEVA, NY: The New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYS IPM) at Cornell University is pleased to announce that Joellen Lampman, a Cornell University alum, has joined its staff as a community IPM specialist with a two-prong focus — the nearly 700 school districts and 20 thousand daycare centers that both educate and protect our young, and those who care for the turfgrass that covers about 11 percent of the state.

Lampman’s first task out of the gate: surveying daycare centers as a means of opening doors to this previously underserved group, since a sweeping range of pest and pesticide-related issues affect schools and daycares . Inside and out, schools are complex ecosystems that comprise everything from mice and cockroaches in nap rooms and lunchrooms to crabgrass or even poison ivy in lawns and playfields. Whether it’s homing in on the problems and needs of schools, daycares, and the people who inhabit them; building comprehensive outreach plans; devising how-to demonstrations, apps, and training materials; or cooperating on real-world research projects alongside the people she serves — Lampman will tackle these and more.

“Joellen will have a full plate,” says Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, community coordinator for NYS IPM.
“But with nearly a quarter-century of experience working with a broad range of IPM stakeholders, including people and groups who didn’t know they were stakeholders until she came along, she’s a natural for this position.”

Too often childcare staff have little training in how to use pesticides safely, Lampman says — let alone how to prevent pests in the first place. With at least 20,000 daycares in New York that enroll about 500,000 children, the need for outreach is critical.

“My educational style is to help people really see what they look at every day,” says Lampman. “A well-timed question can lead to awareness. Research-backed information leads to understanding.
Laying out the benefits leads to action. This approach will bring informed solutions to the many child care centers and schools needing help, now, with pest and pesticide issues.”

Lampman’s prior work as programs director with Audubon International focused on helping golf course and school turf managers and staff conserve natural resources, protect water quality, and create mosaics of wildlife habitat — places of beauty — at thousands of properties worldwide. The difference in audiences isn’t as great as it might seem, note NYS IPM co-directors Jennifer Grant and Curt Petzoldt, citing Lampman’s core training as an ecologist at Cornell University and her wealth of experience as an environmental educator and community organizer.

“Plus, Joellen has worked with NYS IPM for years as a member of our Community IPM Coordinating Council,” says Grant. “We’re thrilled to have her aboard.”