For Immediate Release Media contact: The Field Museum Greg Borzo 312/665-7106 gborzo@fieldmuseum.org Melinda Pruett-Jones Melinda Pruett-Jones is the Executive Director of Chicago Wilderness, an alliance of more than 200 organizations that includes The Field Museum. Together, these organizations work through Chicago Wilderness to study, restore, and manage the rich natural areas of the Chicago region and to enrich local residents' quality of life. Pruett-Jones has 27 years of experience in research, management, and administration gained while working for organizations committed to conservation, science education, and academic excellence—including, at one point, The Field Museum. In her role as an ECCo Fellow, Pruett-Jones will work with The Field Museum to implement CW's Leave No Child Inside campaign based in an emerging national movement that recognizes the growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating the importance of direct contact with the outdoors to healthy childhood development. The Leave No Child Inside campaign seeks to raise public awareness about these issues among parents, teachers, and other childcare givers. Field Museum staff members are working closely with Pruett-Jones, the City of Chicago, and other partners within Chicago Wilderness to develop and implement these programs. There will be a focus on underserved communities across the region and on building partnerships with healthcare organizations, daycare associations, and communities of faith. "Leave No Child Inside is arguably the most important campaign Chicago Wilderness has ever undertaken," says Pruett-Jones. "I'm thrilled to be working with staff at The Field Museum who are experts not only in conservation, but in culture change and social justice. The ECCo fellowship will foster ever stronger partnerships to execute this most exciting program for the benefit of all who live here — the people and the wild things. " Pruett-Jones holds a master's degree in zoology from Brigham Young University and a bachelor's degree in psychology/animal behavior from the University of Washington. Dr. Michael Cepek Dr. Michael Cepek has conducted research with indigenous Cofán people in eastern Ecuador for more than a decade. Recent collaborations with The Field Museum include work with the Cofán Survival Fund on the protection of their ancestral lands. Together, Cepek and ECCo staff undertook a complementary effort to map the history of the Cofán settlements, sacred sites, and patterns of resource use. A recent field expedition to map this historical landscape included training a group of young Cofán as field assistants. The expedition mapped more than 160 sites with Cofán place names and cultural significance, and trained the Cofán in the group to collect oral histories and use mapping methodology. In his role as an ECCo Fellow, Cepek will continue this work with ECCo. At the request of the Cofán, The Field Museum has acquired about 100 objects, representing Cofán culture — including ceremonial objects, household items, and agricultural and hunting implements. These comprise the only known collection of Cofán objects in the United States and enrich the Museum's existing collection of objects from related indigenous groups of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Cepek is an Associate Professor at University of Texas, San Antonio's Anthropology Department with a broad background in social and cultural theory and the people, politics, and history of lowland South America. Continue>>