Stephen Vrla PhD » Team

Stephen Vrla is an environmental educator who helps nurture mutual thriving among people, animals, and nature.

Stephen’s work lies at the intersection of teaching, scholarship, and advocacy. As a teacher, he creates learning experiences that strengthen students’ environmental and civic literacy and provide them opportunities to engage with authentic environmental and social issues. As a scholar, he investigates the effects of formal and informal learning experiences on people’s environmental and civic literacy as well as connections among theories and methods of environmental and deliberative democratic education. As an advocate, he works directly to help animals and nature and also applies his understanding of deliberative democracy to support environmental decision making in his communities.

Stephen earned a Dual PhD in Sociology and Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education with Graduate Specializations in Animal Studies and Environmental Science and Policy from Michigan State University. In his dissertation research, he integrated insights into more-than-human communication with theories and methods of deliberative democracy to develop a multispecies deliberative democracy curriculum for elementary and middle school students. While in graduate school, he taught, co-taught, and assisted with courses in sociology, teacher education, and animal studies. He also led a student animal advocacy organization.

Stephen has worked in a wide range of environmental education settings. Most recently, he was Curator of Humane Education for the Detroit Zoological Society. He oversaw the DZS’s Berman Academy for Humane Education and developed, implemented, and studied inquiry-based humane education programming that helped people help animals and nature. He has also worked as a university instructor, nature center educator, classroom teacher, and wilderness therapy guide.

Stephen extends the impact of his work through volunteering. He volunteers as a trip leader for the Isle Royale wolf-moose project and as a content writer for an animal advocacy organization. He has also volunteered for farm animal sanctuaries and animal shelters. He is currently earning his Arizona teaching certificate while preparing for a thru-hike of the Arizona National Scenic Trail in the spring of 2024.