Diane Carter

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Diane Carter was born Diane Huntley on a snowy Maine morning in May during the closing days of World War II. She grew up in Baileyville (Woodland), a pulp and paper mill town located along the St.Croix River which separates Maine from New Brunswick, Canada. The location of her hometown explains why she is considered a "Downeaster" (and also why there was snow in May.) Some of her students think she has a slight Downeast accent but Diane disagrees since she can't hear any difference between how she and everybody else speaks. "A-yah!"

Although her ancestry includes Scots, Irish and English, Diane is especially proud of her claim to Acadian linage through her grandfather Landry. She recently visited his birthplace in Kamouraska, Quebec.

Diane entered the University of Maine during the year of the Beatles, intending to major in English and minor in history. She took a zoology course because she had to and became so interested in what she saw through the microscope that she switched her major to biology, with a minor in history, and forgot all about English. She graduated from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Education during the Summer of Love and immediately joined the American Peace Corps. She spent two years in the British West Indies teaching teachers to teach science. Working with other volunteers and island teachers, she helped write two science textbooks especially designed for use in the local schools. Diane considers her Peace Corps experience one of the peak points of her life.

During her time in the Peace Corps, she met another volunteer named Bill, from Montana. Bill was an English major who had started out in science classes. Although Bill and Diane dated throughout their stay in the British West Indies, they decided they didn't like each other enough to get married. After their time with the Corps was over, they each returned to their respective states and universities to earn Master's degrees.

Eventually, Diane and Bill decided to get married because they discovered that no one else would have them. Besides, they each had hundreds of photos of their years in the Peace Corps, and they figured marriage would be cheaper than copying each other's photos. Three children, two houses, six cats, 1 dog, several hermit crabs, dozens of white mice and lots of tropical fish later, they recently celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary. They lost track of the photos years ago.

Bill and Diane moved to Aberdeen in the fall of 1970. Bill immediately commenced teaching English courses at Aberdeen High School. Diane began working at Grays Harbor College a few months later. Her teaching assignments have included:

Biology and Human Progress (BIOL. 100)
General Biology (BIOL. 101)
Modern Day Plagues (BIOL. 105)
Human Biology (BIOL. 118)
Human Nutrition (BIOL. 160)
Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology I (BIOL. 208)
Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology II (BIOL. 209)
Biological Science II (BIOL. 202)
Biological Science III (BIOL. 203)
Microbiology (BIOL. 260)
Ecology (BIOL. 225)
Medical Terminology (AHLTH 130).

Diane enjoys teaching and has worked hard to introduce into her classes opportunities for students to learn course material through means other than just lecture. She favors collaborative learning, seminars, work sheets, journals, team projects, case studies, and hands-on lab experiences. Much of her energy is spent teaching microbiology and anatomy/physiology classes. She works closely with the nursing staff to ensure that her course material is relevant to the needs of future students of nursing, dental hygiene, radiology, ultrasound and related professions.

In 1992, Diane enrolled in the Master of Environmental Studies program at The Evergreen State College. While continuing to teach at Grays Harbor College, she attended Evergreen nights and summers and completed the MES program in 1996. As she moved through the MES classes, she became increasingly interested in natural resource use in the Pacific Northwest. As a consequence of this interest, she restructured her ecology class so that it was more reflective of local conservation issues. The theme of the class became Conservation Ecology, Pacific Northwest Issues. Although her class highlighted many problems having to do with natural resource use (and no easy solutions) students left the class with a keen awareness of the real world complexity of historical, social, political, economic and ecological factors that influence natural resource issues.

Diane is a former member of the Natural Heritage Advisory Council which advises the Department of Natural Resources regarding Natural Area Preserves (NAPs) and Natural Resource Conservation Areas (NRCAs) statewide. This experience enhanced both her understanding of biodiversity and species extinction issues and of the need to protect existing natural habitat.

Although born a "Maineac," Diane has transplanted her roots to the Pacific Northwest. She likes the people, the college, the climate and even the rain!

Some of Diane's Favorite Sites.

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