The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) announced Wednesday that it has hired Stuart Clarke as its new vice president of Strategic Initiatives.
Clarke comes to the research institution from the world of philanthropy, where he served most recently as executive director of the Town Creek Foundation, the Easton-based nonprofit dedicated to a sustainable environment.
He has previously worked as a program officer with the Turner Foundation, managing a grant-making portfolio that included national water quality and environmental protection, and as development director of the Southern Partners Fund, supporting social justice organizing in the South.
Clarke has also served as co-chairman of the Maryland Climate Commission, which sets guidelines for state initiatives to address climate change and as a trustee for Greenpeace USA.
“Stuart is a highly respected environmental leader with 25 years of philanthropic experience,” said Peter Goodwin, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “I am confident that his passion and professional commitment to the environment combined with his extensive experience will translate into profound benefits for our research, impact in Maryland and beyond, and the entire UMCES community.”
Stuart Clarke. Photo by Cheryl Nemazie/University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
In his new role, Clarke will be seeking and identifying partners and funding opportunities and diversifying funding sources, and he’ll also coordinate a range of activities that promote UMCES initiatives that address pressing environmental issues, including research challenges surrounding coastal resilience, sustainable landscapes and seascapes, changing oceans and climate, and healthy urban waterfronts.
“Given the profound environmental challenges that we face as a state, a nation, and a globe, strong, sound science may be more valuable than it has ever been,” Clarke said. “I am eager to get to work helping to expand and strengthen UMCES’ partnerships and to support UMCES’ scientists in their critical work.”
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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