The School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs is pleased to welcome Ken Kimmell as a Visiting Fellow for the spring 2021 semester. Ken brings more than 30 years of experience in advocacy, government, and environmental policy and is a national advocate for clean energy and transportation policies. He joins the SPPUA community after serving as President of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) since 2014, where he was a driving force behind UCS’s “Power Ahead” campaign to build a large and diverse group of clean energy leadership states. Before that he was the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
As a Visiting Scholar, Ken Kimmell will share with SPPUA students and faculty his experiences and expertise as an NGO leader, a policy advocate, and a government official. He will offer guest lectures on climate policy, the role of science in public policy, and opportunities for climate leadership in the new presidential administration. He will also work with SPPUA graduate students providing guidance on their research, PhD dissertations, and other special topics of interest, as well as career counseling for students interested in jobs in government and NGOs. Additionally, he will be conducting collaborative research with faculty and students on environmental justice by analyzing best practices for using environmental permitting, granting and enforcement laws and regulations to advance social justice.
Ken Kimmell has served as a member of the SPPUA advisory committee since 2017. The SPPUA community is thrilled to welcome him this semester.
