A Legacy of Activist Philanthropy
Anyone who wants to understand the modern history of conservation in 猎奇重口, and beyond, learns about Leonard (Len) and Sandy Sargent, and their legacy of activist philanthropy. Defenders of the natural world and supporters of all those who worked to conserve the land during their lives, their activism and generosity lives and grows in 猎奇重口 and the world today.
Among many others, EVST graduate students benefit from the ongoing legacy of the Sargents and their descendants and of the Cinnabar Foundation, which they began in 1982. The possibilities for the future were foreseen by Len when he wrote in 1986: “While each of us is mortal, the horizon of Cinnabar is perpetuity. Sandy and I take great joy in the thought that a century from now some young crusader, with help from this foundation, will stand defiantly in defense of this land . . . and the grizzly and wolf will salute him from the north rim.”
Copies of the book Len and Sandy Sargent: A Legacy of Activist Philanthropy, by Robin Tawney Nichols and Scott McMillion are available in the EVST office, free of charge, to any EVST student. The connection between Cinnabar and the Sargents and the EVST Program is deep, but the inspiring genesis of the Leonard and Sandy Sargent Graduate Fellowship EVST award fund was in 1992, when Rick Hubbard Sargent and his wife, Judith Stauffer, presented his parents with this unique gift on the occasion of Len’s 80th birthday.
To understand how the Sargent legacy works its way into and through the world today in the form of former Awards, please see the professional biographies of many of the EVST grad recipients (those listed below) on the .
Due to the generosity of the Sargent heirs and the Cinnabar Foundation, the fund has grown, and since 2015, funds generated have enabled the prestigious Leonard and Sandy Sargent Fellowship of $5,000 to be awarded annually to an outstanding EVST graduate student in the area of environmental activism and advocacy.
Current Award Recipients
Micah Ackerman Hirsch
Micah grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and earned a BA in History from the University of Puget Sound in 2020. After graduating, Micah worked as an educator at Coastal Roots Farm, a small-scale, Jewish, regenerative, community farm in in Encinitas, CA.
Micah also volunteered with environmental non-profits, including the Sierra Club, and contributed to its efforts to end oil drilling in Los Angeles County, convincing the Board of Supervisors to ban new drilling and to begin planning the phasing out of all oil wells in Los Angeles – the site of the largest urban oil field in the nation. Micah also canvassed for environmental justice initiatives as a member of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and DSA-LA, including for a Green New Deal campaign which led to the Los Angeles Public School System voting to electrify its school buses by 2040.
Micah is an author of eco-poetry and prose, including If The Storm Clears, a collection of eco-sublime writing from Blue Cactus Press. Michah is currently a co-director for the UM FLAT (Forum of Living with Appropriate Technology), EVST’s living-learning community dedicated “everyday sustainability,” sustainability education, and community building.
As the 2025-26 Sargent Fellow in the Environmental Studies, they plan to continue studying how to use stories, art, and community engagement to help people feel connected to the place they live and to the human and more-than-human communities. In the future, Micah envisions opening a community farm and center that would be a mix of folk school, nature preserve, food security resource, training center for activists and organizers, and arts lab!
Past Award Recipients
See bios of highlighted recipients on the .
1992-93 Jim McGrath
1994-95 Tom Platt
1995-96 Carla Abrams, Olga Maiboroda, Rob Perks, Bryony Schwan, Seth Wilson
1996-97 Kaarsten Turner
1997-98 John Adams, Kira Sherwood-Jewett
1998-99 Keith Stockmann
1999-00 Mary Anne Hitt and Kristen Sykes
2000-01 Dan Brister and Amy Stix
2001-02 Gary Hughes and Pamela Uihlein
2002-03 Amy Barry
2003-04 Josh Burnim, Derek Goldman, Carolina McCready and Joellen Shannon
2004-05 Margot Higgins, Melissa Matthewson and John Senn
2005-06 no fellowship awarded
2006-07 Jason Brininstool
2007-08 Cassidy Randall
2008-09 Shannon Donahue and Jennifer Hill-Hart
2009-10 Aaron Kindle
2010-11 Talasi Brooks, Heather Day, Jonathan Leiman and Micah Sewell
2011-12 Douglas A. Davis and Kate Sheridan
2012-13 Kascie Herron and Stephanie Laporte
2013-14 Elizabeth (Ellie) Costello and Rachel Mockler
2014-15 Sam Plotkin and Nick Triolo
2015-16 Andis Adams and Tabitha Espinosa
2016-17 Teresa (Terri) Nichols
2017-18 Rachel Ackerman
2018-19 Holly Seymour
2019-20 no fellowship awarded
2020-21 Gardner Dee
2021-22 Paige Johnson
2022-23 August Guenthner
2023-24 Mara Pellerito