Trish O'Kane

Trish O'Kane
Other namePatricia O'Kane
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Southern California, London School of Economics
Occupationsenvironmental educator, academic and investigative journalist
EmployerUniversity of Vermont
Notable workBirding to Change the World
Websitehttps://trishokane.org/

Trish O'Kane is an American environmental educator and academic, and former international investigative journalist.

As of 2026, O'Kane is a senior lecturer in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.[1]

Biography

Early life

O'Kane was born in Orange County, California to Irish parents.[2] She was brought up in California and graduated from El Modena High School.[2]

Education and career

She attended the University of Southern California, receiving her BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies in 1985 and an MA in International Journalism in 1988.[3]

A gray catbird (Dumatella carolinensis) in Madison, Wisconsin

After a career in international investigative journalism focusing on human rights issues in Central America and hate crimes in Alabama,[4] she taught journalism Auburn University and Loyola University in the early 2000s.[1] O'Kane was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home.[1]

In 2010, O'Kane moved to Madison, Wisconsin where she pursued a PhD in Environmental Studies, which she received in 2015.[1] Her dissertation, supervised by Jack Kloppenburg and entitled, Nesting in the City: Birds, Children and a City Park as Teachers of Environmental Literacy, was based on an environmental education and action plan to protect the urban wetland and bird habitat in Warner Park, including starting a local nonprofit advocacy group, Wild Warner and starting a birding mentoring programme with a local middle school.[5][6]

As part of her PhD research, she also used geolocation to study the migration patterns of catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis)[5] which documented that some birds return to Warner Park after wintering in northern Guatemala or southern Mexico.[7]

Birding to Change the World

O'Kane's 2025 book, Birding to Change the World: An Uplifting Memoir that Explores what Birds Can Teach us about Life, describes her PhD research and career change from journalist to environmental educator and academic.

Reviewers noted that her 2025 memoir is a "thoroughly researched" book,[6] an inspiring and beautiful tribute to local activism[8][9] that details the tangible was that birds and people depend on each other.[10] Trish O'Kane is described as a "woman with a cause" who has written a book that is "at once a natural history, a call for social change, and a memoir about repairing the world"[11] and which offers "a refreshingly different perspective to the challenges of environmental education and advocacy for the value of an urban park and access to nature for local people."[12]

Awards

O'Kane has received awards for her teaching, including the 2018 Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2025/26 Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award,[13] both from the University of Vermont.[14]

She also won the 2022 UW-Madison Nelson Institute Rising Star Alumni Award for making a significant difference in the world after graduating from UW-Madison.[15]

Publications

  • Trish O'Kane (2025). Birding to Change the World: An Uplifting Memoir that Explores what Birds Can Teach us about Life. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-322316-5.
  • Patricia O'Kane (2015), Nesting in the City: Birds, Children and a City Park as Teachers of Environmental Literacy, Wikidata Q141100438

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Investigative Journalist Turned Community-based Educator..." www.uvm.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  2. 1 2 PhD, Trish O'Kane (2025-07-16). "O'Kane: A Daughter of Immigrants Thanks Orange County". Voice of OC. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  3. ↑ "Trish O'Kane | Rubenstein School of Environment and..." www.uvm.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  4. ↑ Fiegenbaum, K. (2024-04-16). "How a hurricane and a cardinal launched a UVM professor on a new career path". VTDigger. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  5. 1 2 Trish O’Kane (October 2022). "Trish O'Kane". Current Biology. 32 (20): R1047–R1049. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.008. ISSN 0960-9822. Wikidata Q141100421.
  6. 1 2 Kerr, Betsy (2025-03-22). "A Review of Trish O'Kane's 𝐵𝑖𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑: 𝐴 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑟". Chicago Bird Alliance (formerly Chicago Audubon Society). Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  7. ↑ Patricia O'Kane (2015), Nesting in the City: Birds, Children and a City Park as Teachers of Environmental Literacy, Wikidata Q141100438
  8. ↑ King, Barbara J. (2024-04-22). "Looking for new ways to appreciate nature? 2 new birding books may help". NPR. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  9. ↑ Minardi, Rebecca (2025-06-24). "Activism and Hope through Birds". American Birding Association. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  10. ↑ "A new book explores the transformative power of bird-watching". 2024-02-20. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  11. ↑ Lutwick-Deaner, Rachel (2024-02-28). "Ornithology and Activism Go Hand-in-Hand in "Birding to Change the World"". Southern Review of Books. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  12. ↑ "Book review – Birding to Change the World". CIEEM. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  13. ↑ "Outstanding Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award | Division..." www.uvm.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  14. ↑ "Trish O'Kane Receives 2018 Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence..." www.uvm.edu. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
  15. ↑ Rademacher, Chelsea (2022-10-10). "A Rendezvous to Remember". Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
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