Jennifer Haverkamp, an internationally recognized expert on climate change, international trade and global environmental policy and negotiations, will become director of the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute, effective Oct. 1.
Haverkamp will carry the title of Graham Family Director of the Graham Sustainability Institute.
“Jennifer’s leadership experience is essential for guiding the Graham Sustainability Institute in its work to bring together the world-class expertise of U-M faculty and students with the knowledge and needs of off-campus partners to solve sustainability challenges on all scales from the local to global,” says James Holloway, vice provost for global engagement and interdisciplinary academic affairs.
As director, Haverkamp will lead the institute in facilitating sustainability-focused collaborations among faculty and students from many disciplines across campus with external stakeholders including communities, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, foundations, professional organizations and the private sector.
“I’m thrilled at the opportunity to engage colleagues across the university in writing this remarkable institution’s next chapter,” says Haverkamp.
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“The world’s urgent environmental and sustainability challenges demand that the resources of great research universities be brought to bear on their solutions, and Michigan, with its incredible intellectual firepower and commitment to engagement, is perfectly positioned to make a real difference.”
Prior to joining U-M, Haverkamp served as visiting professor of practice and distinguished practitioner in residence at Cornell Law School, as well as executive in residence at the David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, also at Cornell University.
In 2016 and early 2017, she served as special representative for environment and water resources, with personal rank of ambassador, in the U.S. State Department.
During her tenure, she led U.S. climate negotiators to a successful international agreement under the Montreal Protocol to decrease global use of hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas. She also facilitated a successful agreement by the International Civil Aviation Organization to adopt the first-ever global market-based measure to address aviation carbon emissions.
In this role, Haverkamp also oversaw diplomatic engagement in transboundary water management, water conflicts and global water governance.
Besides her time in the State Department, Haverkamp led the international climate program at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, and served in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
She has been a lecturer teaching international trade and sustainable development law at George Washington University, and environmental law and policy at Johns Hopkins University.
Haverkamp earned a law degree from Yale Law School, was a Rhodes Scholar earning a master’s degree in politics and philosophy at Oxford University, and majored in biology at The College of Wooster, on whose board of trustees she has served for many years.
She also has served on the boards of the Verified Carbon Standard Association and the American Bird Conservancy as well as on USTR’s Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee.
Haverkamp is the third director of the Graham Sustainability Institute and succeeds Donald Scavia who led the institute until 2016.
