As of 2025, Dr. Courtney Schultz is the Director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) at Colorado State University. In this role, she is responsible for advancing an ambitious institutional vision that integrates interdisciplinary scholarship, innovation in sustainability education, and solutions-oriented partnerships across campus, Colorado, and international networks.
She also serves as a Professor of Forest and Natural Resource Policy in the Department of Forest & Rangeland Stewardship and directs the Public Lands Policy Group (PLPG). Her team’s research centers on forest governance, with a particular focus on wildfire resilience, climate adaptation, collaborative restoration, and the role of science in policy and decision-making. Through her leadership of PLPG, Courtney, her team, and their partners produce applied research that informs agency practice, supports federal and state partners, and advances social-ecological resilience.
As SoGES Director, Dr. Schultz brings land-grant values to global sustainability challenges, strengthening interdisciplinary research networks, expanding climate and sustainability education pathways, and positioning CSU as a leader in transformative environmental solutions. She founded the Climate Adaptation Partnership at CSU in 2020, has led the Climate Initiative since 2023, and also supports the work of the CSU Climate Hub at the Spur campus in Denver.
Before coming to CSU, Courtney served as a Presidential Management Fellow with the USDA Forest Service, was an international service-learning educator, worked as trip leader with Outward Bound for seven years in Montana, and was an AP Biology teacher. She also runs as small non-profit to help underprivileged children in Kenya access secondary and post-secondary education. In her free time she is an avid naturalist, and she has several habitat restoration projects underway with her husband.
Dr. Schultz holds a Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Montana, an M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Maryland, and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.
