Sara Taliaferro

Vice President

Sara is a natural science illustrator, artist, and community engagement specialist who writes, speaks about and visually communicates the story of environmental sustainability and participatory democracy to an ever-diversifying audience. She runs her own businesses, Happy Beetle Studio and CSC Engagement Services, LLC. Sara worked for the Museum of Natural History and Biodiversity Institute at the University of Kansas for over six years with Dr. James S. Ashe, a specialist on Aleocharine beetles, Family Staphilinidae, and taught Scientific Illustration through the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas.

The Guild has been an enriching part of her career that began with drawing miniscule brown beetles. She has served as Education Director, on the Nominating Committee, as President, and was involved in the GNSI Oral History Project. She was the Chair of the 2002 (Lawrence, Kansas) and 2013 (Bar Harbor, Maine) GNSI Annual Conferences and has served the GNSI annual auction in capacities that include a variety of alternate personas as auctioneer. Sara was one of the founding members and a longtime board member of the GNSI Great Plains Chapter. She currently serves as the GNSI-GP Events Coordinator. She is the 2012 recipient of the GNSI Distinguished Service Award.