Directory

Rev. Stephen Mitten, S.J., MS

About

Rev. Stephen Mitten, S.J. serves as the Spiritual Director and Resident Ecology Faculty at LUREC (Loyola University Retreat and Ecology Campus) within the School of Environmental Sustainability (SES). He has been involved in education at the high school, college and continuing adult education levels. From 2005 until 2012 he worked in Belize, Central America where he was hired by the school President to develop, implement and direct the Environmental Science Associate Degree Program within the Department of Math and Science at St. John’s College Junior College. He served as chair of the Science and Math Department and was the college’s faculty moderator for GECO, the school’s ecology club. He also served for a brief time as Acting Assistant Dean for the School of Professional Studies where he developed curriculum for two degree programs: General Studies with specialization in Environmental Studies, and General Studies with specialization in Tourism Management.

Mitten earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Northern Illinois University in 1979, an MDiv from the Jesuit School of Theology-Berkeley in 1991 and an MS in 2004 in Tropical Ecology and a Graduate Certificate in Tropical Biology and Conservation in 2005 both from the University of Missouri-St. Louis Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center (formerly the International Center for Tropical Ecology). While pursuing his master’s degree in ecology he was granted an International Center for Tropical Ecology (ICTE) Research Scholarship to assist in the study of the ecology of the White-crowned manakin (Pipra pipra) in Ecuador (2005); a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) Student Fellow to study mangrove avian communities in Belize (2004) and a fellowship to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, (STRI) Bocas del Toro, Panama in tropical marine ecology where he researched the behavioral ecology of Aratus pisonii, the Mangrove tree crab (2003). He has also participated in ecology field research in Guyana and Venezuela.

Degrees

• 2005 Graduate Certificate in Tropical Biology and Conservation, International Center for Tropical Ecology (ICTE) at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
• 2004 Masters of Science, Tropical Ecology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, MO
• 1991 Masters of Divinity, Jesuit School of Theology-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
• 1989 Certificate in Spiritual Direction & Counseling, Wernersville, PA.
• 1985 Certificate in Philosophy and Letters, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO.
• 1985 Teaching Certificate. Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
• 1979 B.S. Biological Science, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.

Courses Taught

• ENVS 101: The Scientific Basis of Environmental Issues
• ENVS 218: Biodiversity & Biogeography
• ENVS 267: Bird Conservation and Ecology
• ENVS 280: Principles of Ecology
• ENVS 286: Principles of Ecology Lab
• ENVS 340: Natural History of Belize
• ENVS 345: Conservation and Sustain. of Neotropical Ecosystems
• ENVS 369: Field Ornithology

Awards

• 2017 Mary Therese Langerbeck Award for Undergraduate Research Mentoring, LUC Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy
• 2005 International Center for Tropical Ecology (ICTE) Research Scholarship Award (Ecology of the White-crowned Manakin (Pipra pipra) in Ecuador)
• 2004 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) Student Fellow

Grants:

• 2012 United States Department of Agriculture HEC, $29,948. 2012-2013 (co-PI: L.Vale, S. Lishawa, S. Mitten, C. Peterson. PI: N. Tuchman).
• 2006 PACT (Protected Areas Conservation Trust) $50,000 BZ to start Environmental Science Program at St. John’s College Junior College

For a complete list of awards and affiliations, please see his CV.