Biography

Jean Richardson is a Vermont Maple syrup producer; Inspector of organic farms, sugarmakers and processing businesses; Consultant and Negotiator in rural, agricultural and environmental matters; rural land use planning and zoning; President, New England Environmental Policy Center; Professor Emerita of Natural Resources, Environmental Studies, and Geography, University of Vermont. In 1976 Jean and her family homesteaded in Fairfield, northern Vermont where Jean designed and helped build her family's house and began an experimental/teaching farm with ecologically based agriculture. practices. Recent Book: Partnerships in Communities: Re-weaving the Fabric of Rural America. Education: B.S. (1965) University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England; M.S. (1967) and Ph.D. (1970) in Biogeography, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Ph.D. Dissertation on Pecan Domestication; post-doctoral Law Clerkship, Vermont (1978-82); adjunct faculty, Vermont Law School, Environmental Law Center; advanced studies in strategic negotiation, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Other: Extensive international research and consulting experience over three decades in Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, China, East and West Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, South and North America. Presidential Appointment: In 1994 Dr. Richardson was appointed by President Clinton as one of five United States citizens who, together with five Canadians and five Mexicans served on the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), providing formal advice to ministers of the environment in all three nations.