EcoTarium
Noreen Johnson Smith serves as President and CEO of EcoTarium since January 2022 and Town Moderator for the Town of Charlton since June 2020, overseeing town meetings and ensuring adherence to parliamentary procedures. Previously, Noreen held the position of Principal/Owner at Nonprofit Partners Consulting, where innovative solutions for homelessness and resettlement efforts were developed. Noreen's extensive experience includes roles such as Chief Strategy Officer at the Family Health Center of Worcester, Vice President for Programs at The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, and Director at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Noreen also contributed to academia as adjunct faculty at Assumption College from 2006 to 2016, teaching various business and nonprofit-related subjects. Noreen holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from the University of Vermont.
EcoTarium
The EcoTarium is a historical museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, with indoor/outdoor interactive exhibits to inspire a passion for science and nature. The EcoTarium offers three floors of interactive exhibits, shows in the Alden Digital Planetarium, daily Science Discovery programs, live animal habitats, hikes through forest and meadow nature trails, an express train ride around the grounds (seasonal), and unlimited play in the expansive outdoor exhibit, Nature Explore®. The EcoTarium is well rooted in the Worcester community as an organization dedicated to the study of science and nature. The private, non-profit institution was founded in 1825 as the Worcester Lyceum of Natural History and was incorporated in 1884 as the Worcester Natural History Society — EcoTarium's legal identity. A transition from the New England Science Center to the EcoTarium in 1998 refocused the museum in the natural sciences and hands-on exploration and discovery. Much of the museum's work today continues to reflect the ideologies and practices adopted almost 200 years ago.