Environmentalist to discuss role of higher education in sustainability

Anthony D. Cortese of Second Nature Environmental Learning Center will speak on The Role of Higher Education in Moving Society on a Just and Environmentally Sustainable Path in a lecture on May 16 in the Chase Hall Lounge. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Second Nature, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance human and environmental well-being through learning, works with faculty, administrators and student leaders at institutions of higher learning to promote and increase action that is environmentally just and sustainable across curriculum, research and all campus operations.

Cortese is corporate executive officer of Second Nature. Director of the Center for Environmental Management at Tufts University from 1984-93, he became the first dean of environmental programs at Tufts in 1989.  There he developed and coordinated 13 university-wide environmental programs, including the award-winning Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute.

The commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection from 1979-84, Cortese worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Public Health Service from 1969-76.

Cortese’s board and committee memberships include the EPA Science Advisory Board and the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. He received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s of science in environmental engineering from Tufts University  as well as a doctorate of science in environmental health from the Harvard School of Public Health.