Major Michael Hardee (Retired) is the Past President of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy Associates, Florida Chapter. He has served in multiple law enforcement capacities, including senior level management positions for over 40 years. A graduate of the FBI National Academy Session 232, he is a graduate of Goddard College and also served on the Board of Trustees. Mike has developed long term environmental undercover operations that have been featured on ABC News 20/20 and Primetime Live. He is a former instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia and the Southern Environmental Enforcement Network (SEEN). He chaired the First Coast Environmental Crimes Task Force in Jacksonville, Florida, while employed with the 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, Special Prosecution Unit. Over the past five years he has been actively involved in officer safety and wellness training efforts to address issues of suicide prevention, mental health, martial, family and financial concerns. He is a Senior Manager at Covert Investigations Group, a Florida based private investigations agency that specializes in corporate and employment investigations. He is currently working with the law enforcement chaplaincy program of Ukraine in the development of training and educational programs for their military and law enforcement first responders. He recently completed a 4-year term on the FBI National Academy Associates National Board as Chaplain where he developed the National Spritual Leadership Network.

Dustin Byerly graduated from Goddard College’s residential undergraduate program in 2001. He returned in 2006 and spent the next 13 years working across nearly every part of campus life. Starting in the kitchen, he went on to work in the mailroom, library, business office, archives, art gallery, and alumni affairs, ultimately becoming Associate Director of Advancement. In that role, he raised funds for the College by partnering with alumni, donors, and trustees to meet ambitious goals and sustain the institution through a pivotal period. He also curated art exhibits, chaired the Honorary Degree and Special Awards Committee, contributed to the Clockworks editorial board, and served on the Goddard College Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2014. Today, Byerly is Director of Major Gifts at VTDigger, Vermont’s largest nonprofit newsroom, where he builds philanthropic support for public-service journalism. A lifelong musician and active member of Vermont’s creative community, he lives in Montpelier with his wife, also a Goddard graduate, and their two children.

Ben Dunham is a Vermont-based musician, songwriter, and producer. With deep roots in the state’s music scene, Ben started his music career at 18, touring nationally with hip-hop and reggae bands and developing a dynamic, collaborative approach to music. In 2023, he built Jug Brook Studio with a vision of connecting artists from around the world in a space designed for creative exploration. Drawing on two decades of experience as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer, Ben brings a deep commitment to the creative process. His goal is to create an environment where artists feel supported, inspired, and free to make their best work.

A compassionate and visionary leader, Dr. Barbara Vacarr has spent 30 years spearheading bold initiatives that inspire individuals and organizations to create meaningful change in the world. Barbara has been the CEO of Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, President/CEO of Goddard College, and pioneered the PhD in Adult Learning and Human Development degree program at Lesley University. Barbara is an ordained inter-spiritual minister, and holds a PhD in psychology and human development. She sits on the boards of the Findhorn Foundation, The Planetary Arts Institute, the Supervisory Board of the Global Accreditation Council and consults with numerous mission-driven organizations. In her practice, Barbara facilitates embodied experiences that nurture presence, authenticity, gratitude, and awe—a sense of reverence for the magic and mystery of life. Barbara was named one of 50 “Influencers in Aging in America” by PBS’s Next Avenue and was awarded the 2022 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring individuals who have demonstrated leadership, excellence and longevity within their respective industries and professions.

Sarah is a practicing attorney, currently employed as the General Counsel of Union Mutual Insurance Company. She is a former City Counselor for the City of Montpelier, and her previous employment includes a brief stint as the Chief of Staff to the President of Goddard College. She is also the Chair of the Board of the Montpelier Foundation.

Most recently, Brian Boyes has been celebrated and recognized for his work as the composer and conductor of the 18-piece post-rock, big band, The Saturn People’s Sound Collective. As a recipient of a Vermont Community Foundation Arts Endowment grant and a Goddard College Concerts commission, Boyes and the Saturn Collective have sent shockwaves throughout the VT musical community leaving an indelible imprint amongst Vermont’s tastemakers and diverse music lovers alike. Says Seven Days of the group’s 2013 headlining Discover Jazz Festival performance, “Mind blowing radness . . . The Saturn People’s set at The FlynnSpace on Tuesday was simply transcendent, not merely a local highlight, but a festival topper, period.” Brian Boyes is no stranger when it comes to working with large ensemble; including The Big Bang Bhangra Brass Band and Movement of the People: The Fela Kuti Project - both projects exploring the intersection of global music and jazz improvisation. As an educator Brian Boyes has twice received special recognition from the Vermont Arts Alliance for his unique and creative approach to music education at Cabot School and is a three-time recipient of Cabot School’s Teacher of the Year award. In 2014, Brian was awarded a Rowland Foundation Fellowship to develop and implement a significant project of educational transformation in Vermont. Brian is the founder and creative director of SoundCheck - a band of select VT high school musicians writing and performing original music to fight for social justice. SoundCheck students work with music educators, prominent singer-songwriters and anti-racist educators to develop original material that tackles racism, injustice and hate. The band regularly performs and facilitates workshops at New England high schools using art and music as a catalyst to spark dialogue, action and awareness. Brian holds two degrees from Goddard College; BA Music Performance & Composition (with minor in Ethnomusicology); MA Education (Infusing Performing Arts into Project Based Learning).

Kerrin McCadden is an award-winning poet and educator with long-standing connections to Central Vermont. She is the author of Landscape with Plywood Silhouettes, which won the New Issues Poetry Prize and the Vermont Book Award; the chapbook Keep This to Yourself, winner of the Button Poetry Prize; and American Wake, a finalist for the New England Book Award. Her poems have appeared widely in journals, including American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Narrative, and New England Review, and have been featured in Best American Poetry, on The Slowdown, and in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. Her honors include the Sustainable Arts Foundation Writing Award and a Fellowship in Creative Writing from the National Endowment for the Arts. McCadden’s teaching career spans more than three decades, most of which she spent at Montpelier High School, where she taught English to more students than she can count, teaching them to mind the rules of language — and how to bend them. She later taught at the Center for Technology, Essex, and now teaches in semi-retirement at Essex High School. Her own studies began at St. Michael’s College, where she earned a degree in English, and continued at Goddard College, where she studied Education and earned her teaching certification. She later completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Warren Wilson College’s Program for Writers—a program founded at Goddard by Ellen Bryant Voigt. The philosophy of Goddard, with its emphasis on creativity, independence, and critical inquiry, continues to inform all her professional pursuits. A former Central Vermont community member, McCadden now calls South Burlington home. She is eager to work with The Creative Campus on literary programming and educational projects that carry forward Goddard’s history of artistic and intellectual innovation.