Newsmakers

Stavins appointed chair of new EOEA advisory board

Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government Robert Stavins has been appointed chair of the newly created scientific advisory board at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA). This new group, created by Secretary of Environmental Affairs Ellen Roy Herzfelder, aims “to assist policymakers by helping to ensure the production and use of sound science to support decision-making and to ensure that EOEA is making use of up-to-date assessment methods, innovative policy instruments, and appropriate technologies.”

Stavins is chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Group at the Kennedy School of Government, and director of Harvard’s Environmental Economics Program.

Nelson, Miller named to Joint Center’s Policy Advisory Board

Thomas C. Nelson, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of National Gypsum Co., has been appointed chair of the policy advisory board at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Nelson holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. The center also appointed Stuart Miller, president and CEO of Lennar Corp., as the new vice chair of the board.

The policy advisory board is composed of senior executives from leading corporations that are involved in housing-related sectors, including home building, building materials manufacturing and distribution, housing finance and mortgage banking, design, construction, and renovation.

Shinagel honored in Peru

Dean of Continuing Education and University Extension Michael Shinagel received an honorary professorship from La Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 25. The honor – the university’s highest – has previously been awarded to the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, the former president of Uruguay Julio Maria Sanguinetti, and Nobel laureates Carlo Rubbia and Douglass C. North.

At the university’s ceremony, Shinagel was cited for his exemplary leadership role in the field of continuing higher education, both nationally and internationally. He also delivered a public address on “The Challenges Faced by Universities in the Global 21st Century.”

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks