Science Department Head Owen Kinney is one of 50 highly respected educators to be selected for the 15th cohort of Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Society Grosvenor Teacher Fellows. In December, he will spend two weeks in Antarctica with members of his cohort to enhance his geographic knowledge with hands-on, field-based experiences that he will bring back to the classroom, community, and his professional network.
"I am so grateful to Lindblad Expeditions and the National Geographic Society for providing such an amazing opportunity to bring planetary perspective, adventure and an appetite for exploration back to my classroom," said Kinney.
Kinney has taught science at the Upper School since 1999 and serves as head of the department. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Berry College and an M.S. in Ecology from the University of Georgia. During his tenure at Darlington, he has been recognized with several teaching honors, including the Beachum, Awsumb, and Betts Master Teacher Awards. He was also named a Toyota International Teacher in 2006, and in 2010 he received a Fulbright Award to study Education for Sustainable Development in Japanese schools.
The 2023 cohort of Grosvenor Teacher Fellows—consisting of educators from 24 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces, and the first-ever Fellow from Puerto Rico—features a diverse group of formal and informal educators, representing an array of grade levels and subject areas including social studies, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), second-language programs and art, to name a few.
The Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship is named in honor of Gilbert M. Grosvenor, chairman emeritus of the National Geographic Society, in recognition of his decades-long work supporting pre-K–12 teachers and promoting geography education across the United States and Canada. The expeditions were donated in perpetuity to the Society by Sven-Olof Lindblad and Lindblad Expeditions in 2006 to mark Grosvenor’s 75th birthday and honor his service to the enhancement and advancement of geographic education.
The Fellowship is open to pre-K to 12 educators, who apply and are selected through a competitive application process. Fellows take on a two-year leadership commitment to support National Geographic’s education initiatives and, in addition to being hosted aboard the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet for a life-changing field-based experience, may be asked to conduct webinars, co-design resources, participate in meetups, and serve as mentors to other educators.
Click here to read more about the 2023 Grosvenor Teacher Fellows cohort.
