Our Team

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Acacia Matheson, Interim Director

As the Center for Health and the Global Environment's communications director, Acacia oversees communication efforts related to Center's education and outreach. She also manages the Center's extensive multimedia website and works closely with Center leadership on development and events. Prior to joining the Center, Acacia managed marketing and PR efforts for Warner Bros. and Lakeshore Entertainment in Los Angeles. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Vermont. Cielo Ramirez, Co-manager

Cielo Ramirez is a senior in Quincy House concentrating in Human Evolutionary Biology. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in medicine. She first became involved with the Harvard Community Garden Project the spring of her freshman year and has been in love with gardening since an early age. Her attraction to the garden stems from her interest in the productive potential of the space in garnering a sense of shared community that encourages individuals to take better care of themselves, each other, and their environment. Francisco J. Maldonado Andréu, Co-manager

Francisco J. Maldonado Andréu is in the Class of 2014 at Harvard. His interest in the Garden roots to his visit to Harvard as a pre-frosh and he has been able to enjoy and participate in the garden since its first growing season. Born and raised in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, Francisco was first exposed to the concept of a community garden back in the Capetillo Community in Río Piedras during high-school. He has experienced first hand that these grass-roots organizations positively impact groups and communities, serving as spaces for social change. Francisco is a Romance Languages and Literature concentrator studying French, Portuguese and Spanish. Sam Arnold, Policy Chair

Sam is a junior at Harvard and a prospective Social Studies concentrator. Originally from a Swarthmore, a college town right outside Philadelphia, he is interested in the connection between urban gardening and social change. Apart from the garden, he is active in the Environmental Action Commitee, KeyChange, and Roxbury Youth Intitiative Term time. Emelie Coleman, Communications Chair

Emelie Coleman is a sophomore in Eliot House and is planning on concentrating in History and Science. She is from a more rural city in Georgia and has been working in her grandfather's garden since she was a child. Emelie started the community garden project at her high school and wanted to continue her involvement once she started college. She is interested in organic farming and after college she plans on pursuing a career in nutrition and public health. On campus, Emelie is also involved in the Harvard College European Society, Expressions Dance Company and City Step. Zoe Tucker, Garden Student

Zoe Tucker has been involved with the garden since the fall of her freshman year. She is interested in growing food in terms of its many educational, social, nutritional and aesthetic possibilities, and hopes to spend some years after college either working on a farm or in gardens at schools. She is from Newton, just across the Charles, and lives in a co-op at Harvard, where she has ordered bulk food and learned a good deal about cooking and baking for 30. She is studying the built environment in Visual and Environmental Studies, plays for the Harvard Ultimate Frisbee team and leads outdoor trips for the freshman orientation program. John Aloian, Garden Student

John is a senior in the Dudley Co-op, concentrating in OEB with a focus in plant biology. He is interested in plant growth & physiology, as well as plant survival strategies. Although he started working in the garden in his junior year, he wishes he started sooner. He enjoys seeing students come together to create a fun, inclusive, growing environment. Outside of the garden, he enjoys volunteering with MHASP, baking bread in the co-op, and, as of this year, working in the OEB greenhouses.