Gerlak appointed as Acting Director of Udall Center

Andrea K. Gerlak, University of Arizona research professor in the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and professor in the School of Geography, Development and Environment, has been named acting director of the Udall Center.

Dr. Gerlak replaces Director Christopher Scott as he leaves the university in May to serve as the Maurice K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at The Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Gerlak, who holds a PhD in political science from the University, most recently served as the Udall Center’s associate director. Her research focuses on cooperation and conflict around water, including questions of institutional change and adaptation to climate change in river basins and human rights and equity issues in water governance. She is a senior research fellow with the Earth System Governance Project and recently served as a lead author on the Earth Systems Governance Science and Implementation Plan. Additionally, she serves as a co-editor for the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning and is a member of the editorial board for Anthropocene, a journal addressing the nature, scale and extent of the influence that people have on Earth.