On Women

By: Mia Ambroiggio ‘26 MEM

Since its establishment as The Yale Forestry School in 1900, the Yale School of the Environment (YSE) has gone through many iterations: a few name changes, the development of curriculum specializations, and since 1966, the admittance of women into the program.(1)

The then named Yale School of Forestry was the last graduate school at Yale to admit women. Notably, women had already found ways around this barrier, such as enrolling in courses through the Yale Summer School of Forestry — a forestry session for nonprofessionals — and pursuing other Yale graduate programs while completing much of their coursework at the School of Forestry.(2)

The experience of admitted women was painted by navigating an institution that was not designed for their belonging, let alone success. Women in the program faced inappropriate “jokes” in lectures, unsolicited comments, and invitations to meet with faculty after hours. Mentorship — as the first woman faculty member did not sign on until 1981 — was minimal. Instead, students leaned on each other to collectively create community and keep each other safe. These experiences were compounded by other identity factors, notably race, which amplified social exclusion and risk within the school.(3)

Since then, the school has undergone significant transformation. Over the past decade, women have made up half of enrollment in the Master of Forestry program, women faculty have become increasingly represented, and women hold key leadership roles in the school.(4)

But what about the lived experience of women in forestry at Yale School of the Environment today — how they move through and shape the school’s academic, social, and professional spaces, all within an institution whose history stretches back to 1900?

Most YSE graduate students live in East Rock, a tree-lined neighborhood chock-full of historic, communal houses and community institutions. I met Marina McGonigle ‘26 MF on Orange Street, the main vein of our neighborhood, to walk and grab a coffee before she had to run to a meeting at Marsh Hall. I hit record and put my phone in my pocket so we could chat. Marina hails from St. Augustine, Florida, and attended the University of Florida, where she was one of three women in her undergraduate forestry program. She explains that being a woman in forestry requires balancing assertiveness with adaptability, knowing when to stand your ground and when to adjust to your audience. “Sometimes it means shifting my tone,” Marina says, “or feeling like kindness isn’t always an option.” She also notes a regional difference, doing this work in the U.S. South and now in New England. “In Florida, I had some mentors that primed me for being a woman in the field in the southeast, but my experience in New England has been so different, there is an ease in my community here,” says Marina.

^{Marina McGonigle ‘26 MF holds a bounty of ‘ulu (breadfruit) during her time working with the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Co-op (HUC) in summer 2025. Photo: Miki Nakano}

Caitlyn Castleberry ‘27 MF also notes this regional shift, growing up in the U.S. South. We met on a sunny afternoon after she wrapped up class, sitting at a picnic table, where she reflected on growing up in the woods with a father who is a forester, and what it means to now find her own place in the field. “I am learning how to present as myself, as a woman, in this space,” she said, describing both the challenge and the possibility of navigating forestry today.

She emphasized the tight-knit nature of the community at the school: “we are all so close, it is such a small group in the field and at the school, there is a serious bond there.”

She also recognized the legacy of those who came before her: “I feel like I am a generation behind the women who really paved the path.” That lineage shows up in the mentors who shaped her trajectory, from undergraduate professors who opened doors early on, to women faculty who model ways of being in the field that feel both authentic and empowering, to connections with mentors like Sara Santiago, who reached out before Caitlyn even arrived and helped link her to opportunities at Yale.

A core component of being a woman forester at YSE is the tight-knit networks of care they create. I met with Paige Wagar ‘27 MF/JD and Sofya Gavrilina ’27 MF at a coffee shop Paige selected because it was close to Sofya’s home. Sofya, a new mother, brought her daughter along, dressed in a onesie covered in little trees.

We spoke about how women in the forestry program, in Paige and Sofya’s experience, form a close network of support. “[We] just gravitate towards each other… you don’t need to explicitly name it, you can just move together,” Paige said. They described supporting one another academically and professionally, as well as showing up for personal milestones, including a baby shower for Sofya.

Sofya also reflected on how her experience of motherhood is interwoven into her experience as a forester. “Forestry is about care and stewardship, making sure what’s here will be here for whoever comes after. In that way, it’s not so different from motherhood,” she notes. She reflects on her upbringing being strongly rooted in learning from her mother and grandmother, and how she can pass on her ethic of care towards the land to her daughter, “I get to show her what my mom showed me… there’s a lot of strength in that.”

^{Sofya Gavrilina ’27 MF counts tree rings from a core sample.}

When asked what they hope the experience of women in forestry at Yale will look like 20 years from now, Paige reflected, “the seminal forestry research we are learning about is done by men… I’m excited for gender diversity growing within these fields, and once they are the voices of the field, that is the research we will be studying.” Sofya’s daughter cooed. “She agrees,” Sofya laughed.

Marina, Caitlyn, Paige, and Sofya are a snapshot of the community structure that is iterated across cohorts at the forest school. What all of these women have in common is their connection to each other in this program and resilience as a collective. “Women bring you forward with them, and fill in blanks you didn’t know were blank, because we have that shared experience,” says Sara Santiago ‘19 MF, who has now mentored six cohorts of women who have moved through the program.

Women in forestry shape the field as much through community as through technical practice. These tight-knit networks of women that protect each other, hold each other, and propel each other forward exist in contrast to the experiences of navigating a field still dominated by men. To experience this dichotomy is to be a woman in forestry. 

^{Cerise Stanley ‘27 MF, Caitlyn Castleberry ‘27 MF, and Paige Wagar ‘27 MF/JD ‘27 at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, during the spring break 2026 Technical University of Munich silviculture exchange trip to the Pacific Northwest. Photo: Christian Hess}

To learn more about the history of women at Yale School of the Environment, read: The Yale School of the Environment: The First 125 Years, available here.

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