Daniel Press, professor and chair of environmental studies, has been named the inaugural holder of the Olga T. Griswold Chair in Environmental Studies.
Established by a gift of $350,000 from Craig Griswold in honor of his mother, Olga, the endowed chair was funded to support the work of an environmental studies professor whose interests focus on environmental stewardship in California, with special emphasis on management and public policy. Press intends to use the proceeds to support graduate students doing interdisciplinary conservation research and work in California.
"The committee thought Daniel was the perfect person for the chair," said Alan Richards, professor of environmental studies and chair of the selection committee. "He is dedicated to environmental protection, studies the policy process in California, and is the kind of scholar who both analyzes and participates in the complex process of making environmental policy in California."
Press is a policy expert whose research focuses on the role of participatory politics in environmental management and protection. He is interested in resource conservation issues, as well as the policy questions that arise around industrial pollution and resource consumption. He is the author of Saving Open Space: The Politics of Local Preservation in California (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002). In addition to his campus responsibilities, Press is a member of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, which oversees water quality protection in California.
Griswold, a fourth-generation farmer and rancher who lives near Cambria, was impressed by UCSC's leadership in environmental conservation and restoration. His mother's love of nature inspired in her children a stewardship ethic that continues today, he said.
