Jennifer Lolley, who supervised the management of Auburn University’s
Kreher Preserve and Nature Center, or KPNC, as chief curator of programs, live collections and outreach activities since 2007, retired as outreach administrator March 4.
“Jennifer Lolley has been an asset to the Kreher Preserve and Nature Center,” said City of Auburn Mayor Ron Anders. “She turned a responsibility into a passion and has served the KPNC well. She is creative, industrious, thoughtful and kind. She has worked very hard for the children in the community.”
The KPNC, located on a 120-acre parcel of land, was donated to the Auburn’s
College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment by Louise Kreher Turner
and her husband, Frank Allan Turner, in 1993. The college slowly developed the land as an outreach facility with hiking trails and several structures, including an amphitheater and pavilion.
However, it wasn’t until Lolley was hired that the facility grew to serve tens of thousands of area visitors and community members each year through its environmental education programs. Lolley, who graduated with a degree in biology from Auburn in 1986, worked in other areas of the state, including at the Landmark Park in Dothan for two years, before returning to the Auburn community with her husband, Mark, and three children, Kaitlin, Chelsea and Jordan, in 2006.
Janaki Alavalapati, dean of the college, said, “Jennifer Lolley is responsible for making the KPNC an invaluable resource for the community. She has a diverse knowledge of environmental education and a passion for community, which she used to make the preserve a better place.”
(Written by Jamie Anderson)
