2021 VIRTUAL District Conference – April 23-24, 2021

The Rev. Dr. Carletta Allen was born in Tampa, FL. Her second home was Tachikawa, Japan, a now abandoned Air Force base outside of Tokyo. In Tachikawa her family lived off-base in an almost entirely Japanese neighborhood. Carletta was educated primarily in the public schools of Washington, DC and Prince George’s County. After early careers in women’s retail and fashion, she entered the corporate world of banking and finance, ending that career as a mid-level professional. Along the way, after many years of struggle as a single parent, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Behavioral Science from what was then known as the University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus). Upon graduating she immediately entered the Master of Divinity program at Wesley Theological Seminary and, while working two jobs, leading prison ministries in multiple locations, and raising a son, she graduated cum laude. Five years later she earned a Doctor of Minister degree (summa cum laude) from the same institution. Needless to say, education is of paramount value to her.

She was ordained a United Methodist provisional Deacon in 1996, and an Elder in 2002. She has served four appointments in the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference: Wheaton, MD, Sykesville/Cooksville, MD, Columbia, MD, and Annapolis, MD. Serving in suburban, rural, small town and country, and urban contexts has added a richness to her life and ministry.

On September 26, 2013 she was inducted into the Rotary Club of Annapolis. After serving on the Board of Directors from 2015-2018, she was elected President and served in that capacity in the 2019-20 term. In addition to various commissions and committees, she has served on the boards of: the Annapolis Opera, the Lighthouse Shelter, and Susanna Wesley House (Baltimore). She was a member of the Anne Arundel County School Superintendent’s Blue Ribbon Commission. She is the sole chaplain for the Office of the Sheriff of Anne Arundel County, and a member of the Chaplains Corps of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. She is an active CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for children in foster care and adores her four ‘CASA kids’.

She is the mother of one adult son, an honorably discharged SSGT, US Marine Corps, who served three tours in Iraq (in five years). That son has blessed her with a 7-year old grandson who is unspeakable joy.

Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 104 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 40 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was published by Timber Press in 2007 and was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers’ Association. The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, was published in 2014. Doug’s new book ‘Nature’s Best Hope’ released by Timber Press in February 2020, is a New York Times Best Seller. Among his awards are the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, the 2018 AHS B.Y. Morrison Communication Award and the 2019 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award.