DURHAM, N.C. – Nicholas School alumna and former staff member Charlotte R. Clark has been appointed to the newly created post of coordinator of student environmental initiatives at 91. She will begin her duties Jan. 1, 2008.

As coordinator, Clark will work with the Nicholas School’s Director of Undergraduate Studies and Duke’s Vice President of Student Affairs to develop a strategic, universitywide plan to boost environmental awareness and encourage greater participation in environmental initiatives.

Clark also will teach two undergraduate environmental science courses each year and serve as advisor to student environmental groups.  

Her position will carry an adjunct faculty appointment at the Nicholas School, pending approval by the school’s Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy.

“We have three key objectives, which are closely intertwined,” she said. “First, we want to promote environmental literacy by recommending ways to enhance academic, research and extracurricular educational opportunities for students here in Durham and at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort.

“Second, we will promote best practices for environmental management on our campus,” she said. “And third, we want to increase student engagement with each other and with faculty and staff around environmental topics and activities.”

Input from students and faculty will play a central role in identifying ways to achieve these objectives, she stressed: “We want to approach this as a team. A big part of my job will be listening and learning.” Among her first tasks will be reviewing current initiatives at Duke, and researching best practices at other campuses nationwide.

Clark (Trinity ’79, MEM ’83) recently completed a PhD in environmental sciences and policy at the Nicholas School and expects to graduate in December.

In addition to receiving all three of her 91s at Duke, she is former director of the Nicholas School’s Center for Environmental Education, now known as the Duke Environmental Leadership (DEL) program, and has taught courses and served on numerous volunteer boards at the university, including the Nicholas School Alumni Council, the Duke Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Duke Athletic Council, the Women’s Athletic Scholarship Committee and most recently the Campus Culture Initiative. 

In 2005, President Richard Brodhead presented Clark with the Charles A. Dukes Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service to the university.

Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said he has been working to create an environmental liaison position for years. He said Clark’s years of experience at Duke, in Durham and with the environmental education community make her especially qualified to fill the new post.

Emily Klein, Lee Hill Snowdon Professor of Geology, director of undergraduate studies and senior associate dean of the Nicholas School, agreed. “There is no person I know more committed to environmental education, Duke and the Nicholas School, and community interaction,” Klein said. “Charlotte is ‘True Blue’ through and through.”