Michael Marzolla

Michael Marzolla served as 4-H Youth Development Advisor, with University of California Cooperative Extension from 1983 through June of 2011.

Since 1983 he led the Santa Barbara county 4-H Youth Development Program. From 2004-2010 he led the county’s Master Gardener Program. From October 2010 through June 2011, he served as Youth Advisor for southern Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

He has over thirty years of experience in the field of informal science and environmental education. He led the nationally recognized USDA funded Neighborhood GreenNet, and the 4-H Agua Pura. He has served as the Chair of the EPA funded diversity project for the Golden State Environmental Education Consortium (GSEEC), and chair of the CREEC (California Regional Environmental Education Community) Region 8 Steering Committee. He co-founded the California Aquatic Science Education Consortium (CASEC). He also co-founded of the “Los Marineros” marine science education program. He has served as Vice President for the Santa Barbara based Center for the Study of the Environment, (CSE). In 2003 CSE was appointed by the U. S. Department of State to serve on the United States National Commission for UNESCO. He served on the board of the North American Association for Environmental Education as Chair of the Non-formal Commission, and locally as a member of the board for La Casa de la Raza. He holds a Masters in Education, specializing in non-formal education, from the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts. His undergraduate degree is in fine arts, from Humboldt State University, where he did course work and special projects in environmental planning and design. His international work experience began in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, where he coordinated the country’s school and community garden program, and served as a team member responsible for nonformal education for a nutrition education research project with INCAP (Institute of Nutrition for Central America and Panama). As a consultant in Lesotho, Southern Africa, he lead the establishment of a non-formal education service center. His experience includes the development of the appropriate technology training program and manual for the Peace Corps. In recent years he has undertaken various consultancies with ACDI/VOCA in Bolivia and most recently in Serbia. Before he began his work with the University of California, he directed a farm worker service center for eighteen Northern California counties. He is fluent in Spanish and Italian.