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Schlesinger Steps Down
William H. Schlesinger, dean of Duke’s Nicholas
School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, has been named the
second president and director of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
He will step down as dean on June 1 and assume his new duties in
Millbrook, New York.
The Millbrook institute is one of the largest and most respected
ecological research organizations in the world, with expertise
in aquatic science, forest ecology, urban ecology, air pollution,
nutrient cycling, and disease ecology.
Schlesinger took over the leadership of the Nicholas School in
2001 and was appointed to his second five-year term in 2005. During
his tenure, the school saw a steady increase in enrollment in the
professional program and a rise in giving. He began planning in
2003 for a new building to bring the Durham units of the school
together and also oversaw the creation of the Nicholas Institute
in 2005, which launched its Washington office in November. As dean,
he has written and published numerous op-ed columns, testified
before Congress, and given speeches across the country on environmental
issues. Schlesinger served as president of the Ecological Society
of America from 2003 to 2004 and was elected to the National Academy
of Sciences in 2003.
After his departure, Schlesinger will continue his environmental
research. “The institute offers me an opportunity to focus my work
and research in a way that a dean cannot,” he says. “I look forward
to the new challenge.”
www.ecostudies.org
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