Obama Appoints UTEP Professor To International Environmental Advisory Committee

Irasema Coronado, Ph.D., associate provost at The University of Texas at El Paso, will be one of five individuals appointed by President Barack Obama to the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, UTEP announced on Monday.

The commission, established in 1994 by the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), is an international organization that facilitates collaboration among partner countries-Canada, Mexico and the United States-to protect the shared environment of the continent.

The 15-member advisory committee is comprised of five citizens from each country with significant backgrounds in environmental affairs. The committee serves as the source of information and guidance to the commission.

“Dr. Coronado’s expertise in environmental policy and her extensive experience with U.S.-Mexico border issues will enable her to contribute unique and valuable perspectives to the deliberations of this important international advisory committee,” UTEP President Dr. Diana Natalicio said in a news release.

Coronado, who is an associate professor of political science and a contributing faculty member in the Environmental Science and Engineering Ph.D. program at UTEP, was a member of the National Advisory Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2003-06. She has conducted extensive research and published several articles about legal, political and environmental issues in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

“This appointment will help me provide my students with real world examples and contribute to the understanding of policy-making in the environmental arena,” Coronado said in a news release.

Obama announced Thursday, May 13, his intent to make the appointments.

“The expertise and commitment these men and women bring to their roles will make them tremendous assets to my administration, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead,” Obama said.

For more information, visit http://www.utep.edu or http://www.whitehouse.gov.