Our Speaker of the Week

Professor Samantha "Mandy" Joye

Dr. Samantha (Mandy) Joye is a Regents’ Professor and holds the Athletic Association Professor of Arts and Sciences in the Department of Marine Sciences in the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She is an expert in marine biogeochemistry and microbial ecology and works everywhere from salt marshes to deep-sea methane seeps. Dr. Joye's research has been widely published in leading scientific journals, and she is regularly called upon by national and international scientific and policy agencies for expert commentary. Mandy also works closely with many different artists to help communicate her work to the general public, and was among the leaders of the Ocean Memory Project of the U.S. National Academies of Science where artists and scientists got together to discuss wide-ranging topics including Genomics and Cognition; Sense and Sensing; and Pollution, Forgetting, and Loss.

Our Conference Chairs

Erik, Brooke and Liz

Erik Cordes’ history with Star Island dates back to 1980 when he attended All Star 2 as a child with his grandmother, Betty Blanchard. They returned to All Star 2 the next year with his parents Ron and Cathy Cordes and his brother Ben Cordes. During his college years, Erik was a Pelican and then began to come back as a conferee at the Young Adults conference where he met his wife, Brooke Cordes. When Henry Cordes joined the family, they all returned to All Star 2, and as Henry was followed by Maude, Dorothy, and Kylar,  they have all been back every year since (pandemic notwithstanding). It is not an exaggeration to say that Star Island has shaped every aspect of Erik’s life and career. To repay this debt in some small way, Erik joined the Star Island Corporation Board of Directors in 2012 and served until 2021, was also on the Rutledge Marine Lab Committee from 2004 to 2021, and currently serves on the SIC Nominating Committee. When not on the island, Erik is a deep-sea ecologist and ocean explorer, with the title of Professor and Vice Chair of Biology at Temple University.

Brooke (Bradicich) Cordes, a NH native, first came to Star Island in 1996, attending the Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), conference. She continued to attend the YRUU conference, serving as the conference registrar, through 2002. Brooke went on to attend the Young Adults Conference (YAC) and again, served as registrar, became a member of the Star Island Corporation (SIC), and was on the Membership Committee. Brooke met Erik at YAC in 2006, they were married in 2008, and are now raising 4 children together- Henry, Kylar, Maude, and Dorothy- all attending AS2 each summer as a family, and again, you guessed it- she served as the AS2 registrar. Brooke and Liz met in junior high school in 1993 in Concord, NH… they became the best of friends, meeting each year in the summer and visiting Star Island, and are celebrating 30 years of friendship this year. While not on the island, Brooke raises children (all the children), teaches kindergarten, rescues small dogs, and volunteers in the local schools when she can in Gladwyne, PA.

Liz Hanna is originally from New Hampshire and now hails from Portland, Oregon. Liz has been a Shoaler since 2003 when Brooke Cordes, Liz’s longtime friend, invited her to attend YAC, the Yearly Adult’s Conference. Liz has joyfully attended conferences and enjoyed overnights every year since then. Liz was program coordinator for YAC for several years and then chaired the conference in 2011. After years of delighting in Star on her own, Liz decided in 2013 that it was time to introduce her twin sons, Ellington and Rylaigh, to Star through a family conference she had heard about from her very best friend, Brooke. Brooke and her family folded Liz and hers seamlessly into AS2 and Liz has not missed a year (lol pandemic) since. Liz was assistant children’s program coordinator for AS2 in 2019, and Children’s program coordinator through the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and met the challenges associated compassionately and fiercely, and with the help of her assistant coordinators and program teachers, made the children’s program vibrant and exciting. Liz currently sits on the SIC conference services steering committee and is excitedly looking forward to cochairing All Star 2. When Liz is not daydreaming about the next time she can be on Star, she runs a bar in Portland in the spirit of Star, and sits on the steering committee for the Portland Kitchen Cabinet, a local grassroots organization associated with the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association.

You can reach, Brooke Cordes, Erik Cordes, & Elizabeth Hanna, at:  as2chairs2024@allstar2.org