Amanda Berlinski, M.A.

About

Amanda is a Chicago native with 15 years of experience pioneering creative ways to help people forge meaningful connections with nature through interpretive experiences and exhibits. With an education background in both the arts and sciences, her graduate work focused on where artistic and scientific methods intersect, and the ways those similarities can be leveraged in education.

At Lincoln Park Zoo, Amanda led the creation of the zoo’s first Interpretive Master Plan and chairs the Interpretive Task Force. She was instrumental in helping the zoo develop and design its fleet of interactive, mobile learning stations and has collaborated with partners at Chimp Haven and Serengeti National Park to develop interpretive plans and programs for their audiences.

Amanda serves as the education advisor to the Species Survival Plan of her favorite animal: the African lion. As the conference chair for the Zoo, Wildlife Parks, and Aquaria (ZWPA) community of the National Association for Interpretation (NAI), she organizes and hosts an online conference for hundreds of interpreters annually. Amanda is certified as an interpretive guide and trainer with NAI, and leads multiple workshops a year to train and certify new guides.

Prior to joining Lincoln Park Zoo in 2011, Amanda worked at the Chicago Academy of Sciences’ Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and was an adjunct instructor with Miami University’s Project Dragonfly program.