PERL Director

Dr. Dorothy Ibes has been faculty in William & Mary's Environment & Sustainability program since 2013. Ibes is also the founder and director of the Parks & Ecotherapy Research Lab (PERL), a certified ecotherapy guide, and co-director of the Campus Nature Rx Network (CNRx). 

Ibes earned her B.A. in Journalism from the University of Minnesota, M.S. in Environmental Geography from Texas State University, and Ph.D. in Urban Human-Environment Geography from Arizona State University.

As a human-environment geographer, Ibes's research, teaching, outreach, and ecotherapy work supports and enhances understanding of mutually-beneficial human-nature relationships, with a focus on promoting mental health and environmental stewardship through nature engagement. Her use-inspired, interdisciplinary teaching and research integrates theory and practice from the fields of nature and health, ecopsychology, ecotherapy, environmental psychology, human-environment geography, environmental justice, urban park planning and design, and related disciplines.

Ibes's work has been published in respected peer-reviewed journals including Environmental Psychology, Landscape & Urban Planning, Ecopsychology, American College Health, Cities & the Environment, and Frontiers in Psychology. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), US Dept of Agriculture (USDA), Center for Energy & the Environment, the Reveley Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship, Green Fees Grant program, and the Committee on Sustainability, and the REI Cooperative Action Fund. 

Ibes has designed innovative courses at W&M including the Science & Experience of Ecotherapy, Science Communication, and Mapping for Community Nature Rx. 

Ibes’s most research publications include: Campus Nature Rx: How investing in nature interventions benefits college students (Rakow & Ibes 2022), The role of campus greenspace and meditation on college students’ mood (Ibes & Forstell 2022), Barriers to nature engagement by youth of color (Ibes, Rakow, & Kim 2021), and Greenspace ecotherapy interventions: The stress-reduction potential of green micro-breaks integrating nature connection and mind-body skills (Ibes, Hirama, & Schuyler 2018). A forthcoming book chapter examines Best practices for engaging youth of color in parks, nature sites, and other greenspaces (Rakow, Ibes, & Kim, forthcoming).