State Planning Office Director Joins USM's Muskie School
Editor's Note: For help arranging interviews, you
can contact Jennifer Hutchins, Muskie communications specialist,
at 780-4150.
Portland, ME- Maine State Planning Director Evan Richert
will leave his position to join the staff at the Edmund S.
Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern
Maine, effective July 22.
Richert will direct the Gulf of Maine Program of the Census of Marine Life and will also serve as associate research professor in the Muskie School's Community Planning and Development graduate program, the only one in northern New England.
The Gulf of Maine Program, which will be housed in USM's Muskie School, is one of six worldwide pilot projects by the Washington, DC-based Census of Marine Life to develop a region-by-region census that will assess the diversity and distribution of life in the oceans. In addition, Richert will teach graduate courses in community planning and development at the Muskie School and be an advisor to the University's own community planning activities and other initiatives.
"Evan's background and skills will be tremendous assets to the Muskie School
as our faculty and staff continue to address significant public policy issues facing Maine and the nation," said USM President Richard L. Pattenaude.
Richert's appointment follows more than seven years as director of the Maine State Planning Office for which Governor Angus S. King selected him in 1995. During his tenure, Richert helped launch the first comprehensive coastal ocean observing system in the nation, designed the Governor's strategy for research and development as a cornerstone of Maine's economic development, and framed the political debate on suburban sprawl. His work on sprawl led to state policies on downtowns and service centers, first-time funding of the Municipal Investment Trust Fund, a statewide Geographic Information System, and proposals for traditional neighborhood development.
Richert was King's lead negotiator in a sweeping settlement for the removal of the Edwards Dam - the first decommissioning ever ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - in order to restore a sea-run fishery in the Kennebec River. He also oversaw a revitalized $50 million Land for Maine's Future Program.
Richert was an ex-officio member of King's cabinet and chaired both the cabinet-level Land and Water Resources Council and the Land for Maine's Future Board. The governor also appointed him to the state's Commission on Performance Budgeting and the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission, on which he still serves.
Prior to joining the King administration, Richert was co-owner and president of Market Decisions, Inc., a South Portland-based market research and planning consulting firm,
for 14 years. He was previously planning director for the city of South Portland and a water quality planner with the Greater Portland Council of Governments.
Richert has a master's degree in regional planning from Syracuse University and a dual BA in journalism and political science, also from Syracuse. He has been an adjunct professor in the Muskie School's Community Planning and Development program since 1997, and prior to that was a visiting lecturer in Bowdoin's Environmental Studies program.
USM's Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service offers master's degree programs in community planning and development, health policy and management, and public policy and management, as well as a doctoral degree in public policy. More than 200 faculty and staff conduct applied research and offer technical assistance in health policy, child welfare and related areas in all 50 states and in each of Maine's 16 counties
More information on the Muskie School is available on the
Web at www.muskie.usm.maine.edu.
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