Fran P. Mainella - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Frances P. Mainella was the 16th Director

Executive director

Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

of the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and first woman to hold that position. She was appointed by President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

and confirmed by the U.S. Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

in 2001. She announced her retirement in July 2006 and resigned effective October 15, 2006. Mary A. Bomar

Mary A. Bomar

Mary Amelia Bomar was the 17th Director of the National Park Service of the United States. Raised in Leicester, England, Bomar became a U.S. citizen in 1977. On September 5, 2006, she was nominated by George W. Bush as the Director of the National Park Service, succeeding Fran P. Mainella...

, was sworn-in as the 17th Director on October 17, 2006.http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=4663

She currently is a visiting scholar at Clemson University

Clemson University

Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....

where she is Co-Chair of the
US Play Coalition - a partnership to promote the value of play throughout life. Additionally, she serves as Chair of the Public Lands Advisory Council to the National Environmental Education Foundation, a member of Newsweek Magazine’s Environmental Advisory Board, a Fellow of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration, a member of the Board of Directors for the Children and Nature Network, a member of the Board of Directors for the National Park Trust, Chair of the National Recreation and Park Foundation, and a national speaker on Nature Deficit Disorder, Play and Parks and Recreation.

She was born in Willimantic Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

and received a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

from the University of Connecticut

University of Connecticut

The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

and a master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

from Central Connecticut State College. In 2002 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Central Connecticut State University.

Prior to her position at the National Park Service, Fran served twelve years as Director of Florida’s State Parks, which were awarded the Gold Medal Award, recognizing Florida as the best state park system in the country.

In 1998 she received the Pugsley Medal “ for outstanding leadership in enhancing the Florida State Park system” In addition Clemson University, and the Hartzog Fund named an award after her in 2003 in recognition of her service. The Fran P. Mainella Award is subtitled the "Outstanding Woman in Park Resources Award."

Awards

In 2002, Clemson University presented her with its Walter T. Cox Award, which recognizes leadership in public service, public land administration, and natural and cultural resource policy. The American Recreation Coalition also presented her with its 2002 Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award. In 2006, she was awarded the William Penn Mott, Jr. Award for Excellence by the National Society for Park Resources. From 2007-2010, the Clemson University Board of Trustees presented her with an award for faculty excellence. Clemson also recently named an award in her honor to encourage women to pursue conservation careers. In 2007, Fran was presented the Pugsley Medal a second time for outstanding national leadership, the highest award given by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. Fran is one of very few that have ever received this high recognition twice.

She has also been selected as the Metcalf Lecturer for SUNY- Cortland, the first ever Ralph Steele Lecturer for East Carolina University, and the Calhoun Lecturer for Clemson University. In 2011, Mainella received the outstanding alumni of the year award from the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education.

Additionally, she has written many article and book publications including the introduction to National Geographic’s 10 Best of Everything National Parks and an acknowledgement to Richard Louv’s new book: The Nature Principle.

Career

Title	Location	From	To
Visiting Scholar	Clemson University - Clemson, SC	November 2006	Present
16th Director of the National Park Service	Washington, D.C.	July 2001	October 2006
Director of Florida State Parks	Tallahassee, FL	October 1989	July 2001
Executive Director - Florida Recreation and Park Association	Tallahassee, FL	March 1983	October 1989
Director of Recreation	Lake Park, FL	December 1978	March 1983

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Awards

Career

See also

External links