Durham, N.C. - Norman L. Christensen, professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, has been elected president of the 9,000-member Ecological Society of America (ESA), beginning August 2006. 

The ESA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of scientists founded in 1915 to promote ecological sciences and raise policymakers' and the public's awareness of the importance of ecology in everyday life. 

"I look forward to serving ESA at a time when ecological issues such as global climate change and the sustainable management of our public lands and waters need to be placed at the forefront of national and international policy," Christensen said. "As a society of scientists, we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to work with governments, industry, landowners and others to safeguard the health and productivity of our planet's natural resources for future generations."

Christensen, who completed a three-year term as ESA's vice president for finance in 2005, is widely cited for his work on sustainable forest management, wildfire management and the impact of disturbance and succession in forest ecosystems. He is the recipient of the A. Starker Leopold Award from the National Park Service and a Distinguished Teaching Award from Duke, and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1993. He served two five-year terms as the Nicholas School's dean, from 1991 to 2001.

Other faculty members have served the ESA as elected officers during recent years, including William H. Schlesinger, current dean of the Nicholas School, who served as ESA's president in 2003-04, and James S. Clark, H.L. Blomquist Professor of Biology, who served as ESA's vice president for science from 1999-2004.