April 8, 2014
Nancy Mathews, a professor of environmental studies at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, has been named dean of the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. She will start her new post July 1.
Mathews has served as director of UW-Madison’s Morgridge Center for Public Service since June 2010.
“While at UW-Madison, I am perhaps most proud of leading the recent transformation of the Morgridge Center into a vibrant international hub of community-based learning,” says Mathews. “I am grateful to my talented staff and the engaged scholars on campus.”
Nancy Mathews
The Morgridge Center advances the Wisconsin Idea by developing and promoting civic engagement and learning through service within local, national and global communities. Although the Morgridge Center for Public Service has been administratively housed within the School of Education since the fall of 2011, it has a campus-wide mission and serves as a central hub for public service, academic service-learning, community-based research and engaged scholarship.
Prior to taking the leadership position with the Morgridge Center, Mathews served as chair of Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development at the Nelson Institute. She also spent two years directing UW-Madison’s Reaccreditation Project that was completed in 2009.
Mathews earned an undergraduate degree from Penn State and holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She has spent more than two decades as a highly regarded national expert in environmental scholarship. Mathews’ research and teaching have focused on wildlife ecology and community-based conservation.
“The University of Vermont is one of the nation’s premier small public research universities, and has long been nationally recognized for its leadership in environmental programs and practices,” says Mathews. “My own work in wildlife ecology and conservation biology in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies have prepared me well for this national leadership role. I am honored to have been at UW-Madison, the birthplace of wildlife ecology and a founder of modern environmental thinking, and am very grateful to all of you for your help and support.”