U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Deputy Secretary, Kathleen Merrigan left the Obama Administration in May 2014 to join GW as Director of the Sustainability Collaborative: EEM is a major component. Since that time, Dr. Merrigan has worked closely with members of the EEM program and has been active in efforts to establish the Environmental and Energy Management Institute.
As leader of the University’s sustainability initiatives, Dr. Merrigan is responsible for all GW sustainability activities. This includes enhancing GW’s prominence as an academic leader in multidisciplinary sustainability education, research and outreach. She is overseeing University-wide sustainability efforts with the goal of building premier programs focused on sustainable systems.
Named one of Time Magazine’s “Most Influential People in the World” in 2010, Dr. Merrigan brings to the University a diverse range of experience spanning nearly 30 years. In 2009, she was nominated to serve as USDA deputy secretary by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During her four-year tenure at the USDA, she oversaw the daily operations of agency, leading the USDA’s budget process, establishing the agency’s priorities and monitoring progress, as well as driving its rule-making process.
Before joining the USDA, Dr. Merrigan served for nearly a decade as a faculty member and director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts University. She also held positions as a senior analyst for the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture and a staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where she wrote the law establishing national standards for organic food.
Dr. Merrigan earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Williams College.
Sustainability is one of GW’s core strategic initiatives, and an essential part of achieving the University’s goal of being the preeminent research university in the Nation’s capital. GW has extensive academic expertise in a wide range of fields related to sustainability, including climate and energy, environmental management and engineering, environmental science, public health, and environmental law and policy.