Sarah Weiger is an Associate Professor of English and Environmental Studies at the University of Portland (OR). She’s originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she grew up along the shores of Lake Superior. She received her BA in literature from the University of Michigan, where she lived at the newly formed residential Branch of the Telluride Association. She obtained her PhD from Cornell University, where she studied the “Lake Poets” of British Romantic literature and became a member of the Telluride Association, serving for many years on the Cornell Branch Committee and deepening her investment in Nunnian education. Her research interests grew to include transatlantic 19th-century environmental literature, as well as contemporary environmental literature, posthumanism, and animal studies. Her current research interests include the weather (a favorite topic of all Midwesterners), Indigenous cultural values around land-use, and “eco-emotions:” the affective experiences of inhabiting a changing world. Most recently, she directed the University of Portland’s writing program amidst the rapid adoption of LLMs and AI technology. She is excited about working with students to explore how to “live deliberately” (to use Thoreau’s phrase) in an algorithmic age.

Rachel brings a deep passion for the Driftless Region and a wealth of global experience to her role as Academic Coordinator. A longtime friend and ally of Thoreau College and the Driftless Folk School, Rachel has actively supported our community, connecting new students with our programs.

Her diverse background includes fundraising and development with Earth Regenerators in Colombia and the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, program development at the Benedictine Life Foundation and the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin, service as a hospital chaplain, and a long tenure as pastor in Sun Prairie, WI. Rachel’s unique blend of skills, global perspective, and heartfelt connection to our region make her an inspiring addition to our team.

Jacob Hundt played a central role in the founding of Thoreau College in 2015 and now serves as Executive Director, as Board Member, as a Faculty member leading courses in literature, philosophy, and sustainable agriculture.  He  grew up on a dairy farm in the Driftless Region of southwestern Wisconsin and was one of the founding students of the Youth Initiative High School. He studied and gathered inspiration for transformation in higher education at Deep Springs College, the American University in Bulgaria, and the University of Chicago Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences, earning a BA in History and an MA in Social Sciences.  Since 2004, he has worked as a trained Waldorf high school teacher and guidance counselor at Youth Initiative High School and was a founding board member and instructor of the  Driftless Folk School.  Jacob is passionate about the importance of the liberal arts for our civilization and motivated to create a model that enables students to freely choose a post-secondary education dedicated to the cultivation of thinking, feeling, and willing.

Friedo was born and raised in the southern Black Forest region of Germany and went to Waldorf schools in Germany and Switzerland from 1st through 12th grade. Friedo discovered his love of working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) while providing civil service as a conscientious objector and followed his civil service by studying Curative Education in Camphill Special Schools in Beaver Run, Pennsylvania for two years. Having been inspired by meeting a young couple who were running an organic beef, sheep and pig farm, Friedo decided to join them on the farm, and began his career as an organic farmer. Community living became a vital part of Friedo’s life when the farmer couple, and another likeminded couple, plus their total of 6 small kids, moved to Osceola, WI and eventually formed Community Homestead. Friedo’s journey also led him to run biodynamic dairy farms in England and Switzerland, always combining practical skills with community living. Drawn to Viroqua’s spirit, his family settled here after their daughter attended Youth Initiative High School. Now rooted in the Driftless region, Friedo brings decades of experience in farming, craftsmanship, and education to his work as Farm & Labor Coordinator at Thoreau College and looks forward to collaborating with the Driftless Folk School.

Joseph Clint graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in May 2020 with a BA in Philosophy and a minor in Greek. He then moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to work at St. John’s College where he will soon finish an MA in Liberal Arts. Joseph became interested in Nunnian education after fixing a broken fuel pump on his motorcycle in the midst of his MA coursework. This led him to work on a cattle ranch in West Texas, and now to Thoreau College as an Artist-in-Residence. At Thoreau, Joseph will be working on a gnomology, or collection of maxims, using cyanotype and block prints.