Who We Are

Museum Staff

Lauren Berry
Museum Attendant

 

Lauren grew up locally in the Soquel Mountains above Aptos.  Her family operated an old dairy farm, so she developed an appreciation for nature early in life.   Raising chickens and working in the garden with her family, Lauren developed a keen interest in understanding the tinkering of nature.  While on the farm, she drove a tractor with her dad and thoroughly enjoyed “playing in the dirt.”  Lauren has had a life-long connection to the museum; she visited it while on field trips with her elementary school, and her mother was an active docent at the time.  The museum is where Lauren had her first volunteer experience: she was a docent at the Dinosaurs at the Beach exhibit when she was nine years old.  Lauren is currently waitlisted for the nursing program at Cabrillo College. She hopes to become a nurse in the future, but in the meantime, “Tide pooling rules!!!!”

Shauna Casey
Educational Programs Manager

Shauna grew up in the Finger Lakes region of upstate NY.   She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies.  As a student, Shauna worked in the campus' Natural History Collections and the Arboretum.  Her interest in natural history and ecology eventually led her to the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon, where she worked as field assistant studying pollination biology. She also worked as a naturalist for the Sempervirens Outdoor School in Boulder Creek and as a farm educator at The Farm School in western Massachusetts.  Shauna coordinates our school and public programs, and brings to the Museum a passion for creating programs that foster relationships between people and nature.

Lauren Hanneman
Volunteer Coordinator

Lauren is the museum’s volunteer coordinator.  She works with museum staff to create opportunities for people who share a passion for the natural world.  She spent her most her life traveling the country and experiencing...  She was born with an interest in nature and was encouraged by her environment to pursue an education in Natural History.  Lauren went to UC Santa Cruz where she received a degree in Environment Studies and Biology.  Although she has always been interested in nature, a key element which sparked her passion was the Florida Everglades, where she lived for a number of years.  Lauren enjoys playing music, equestrian activities, as well as kayaking and boating.  She has a love of the sea and mountainous terrain.  In the future, Lauren plans to incorporate her education and work experience in public environmental interpretation.

Sally Heine
Administrative Assistant

Sally grew up locally at the beach in Capitola and attended local schools.  She graduated with a B.A. in Home Economics from San Jose State University. Sally brings to the museum a diverse career background.   She once owned a restaurant and has worked in food service in both local schools and at a local well-loved bakery-- Aldo's in Soquel. After years of enjoying the food industry, she decided to make a career change and go back to school and join the Museum staff. Sally finds the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History to be a stimulating, enjoyable, and a fun place to work.  Sally finds the educational materials to be relevant and up to date, the docents are top notch, and they lead wonderful tours of the Museum for school groups. She feels very fortunate to be part of the Museum where something new and exciting happens every day.

Tremain Jones
Museum Assistant

Tremain helps in the preparation, installation and maintenance of exhibits.  This includes assisting the Museum Director in managing the museum collections.  Tremain is also responsible for promotions and planning special events. Tremain grew up just a few blocks away from the San Francisco Bay in East Palo Alto.  From a young age, he had a keen interest in science and nature.  He was a frequent visitor of the Baylands Preserve in Palo Alto and possessed an avid insight into the microscopic worlds of bacteria and algae, worlds unseen by the naked eye.  He later studied Chemistry and Anthropology at Foothill College where he earned an Associates Degree and then transferred to UC Santa Cruz, where he received a BA in Biological Anthropology.  After Santa Cruz, Tremain traveled to the forests of Borneo, Indonesia, where he studied Orangutans in their native habitat.  Tremain looks forward to earning his masters while completing the courses necessary for medical school.  When not at the museum, Tremain spends his time at the Santa Cruz Teen Center and working on independent film projects.

Jenifer Lienau-Thompson
Museum Director

 

Jenifer came to the museum as curator, now museum Director, in 1998.  As museum supervisor, Jenifer plans, coordinates, and facilitates museum events, exhibits and programs.  She got her first start in the museum world helping to jump start the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix and later moved on to the Cranbrook Institute of Science near the city of Detroit, MI.  She has a special love for small, crawly like bugs and critters as well as an absolute passion for giraffes. She is especially interested in how organisms interact with each other to form an intricate mesh we call ecosystems.  Jenifer is currently enjoying the new addition to her family and hopes to foster that deep connection to nature with her family.

Lise Peterson
Operations Manager

 

Lise is the operations manager for the Santa Cruz Museum Association.  She manages the business aspects of the museum association: buying for the gift stores, corresponding with members, and maintaining financial records.   Lise was raised in Calaveras County, where her family operated a weekly newspaper--- a community institution.   After many years of working at a name-brand corporation, Lise elected to join another community institution, the Museum of Natural History..  Outside her work at the Museum, Lise volunteers for the California Native Plant Society, has served on the board of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, and is a dilettante birder. 

Sarah Underwood
Neary Lagoon Program Coordinator

Sarah is the program coordinator for the Neary Lagoon Wetland Walk, a unique opportunity for 3rd and 4th grade students to learn about wetland ecology. Sarah trains docent volunteers to lead tours at the lagoon in addition to giving tours herself.  Sarah grew up in wine country.  She is an avid bicyclist and once took a trip across the country where she saw the great expanse of conventional agriculture.  The experience of that trip sparked her interest in agriculture and the environment.  Later at UC Davis, she majored in agricultural systems and learned to appreciate gardens and plants.  After graduating, she worked as a naturalist in the Sierra foothills at Foothill Horizons Outdoor School, where she got her first taste of teaching.  Sarah spent a year in Spain, teaching English and improving her Spanish; when she came back to California, she earned a K-8th teaching credential and was fortunate to do her student teaching in a bilingual classroom at Bayview Elementary in Santa Cruz. The natural beauty and community of Santa Cruz has captivated Sarah, and she savors every day that she gets to work, live and play here.  Working towards a Masters in Pubic Health, Sarah hopes to one day work with issues of childhood health and wellness.