Unity, Maine – March, 2012 –  Unity College President Stephen Mulkey will be participating in a series of events in March that explore the issue of global climate change.

On Thursday, March 8, President Mulkey will be interviewed by Doug Clifford, Host of the “One Hour of Hope” radio show on WSKY in Gainesville, Florida.

On Tuesday, March 13, President Mulkey will present the latest scientific findings on climate change at 7:30 p.m. in the Smathers Library East, Room 1A, at the University of Florida (UF) campus in Gainesville, Florida.

His talk is titled “Losing Control of the Global Thermostat – Implications for Florida, the U.S. and the World.”

Mulkey will address UF’s options for responding to climate change, individuals and local institutions actively work toward sustainability.

The presentation is sponsored by UF’s Office of Sustainability, the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, the Civic Media Center and the Gainesville Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby.

For additional information on the event:  (352) 672-4327 or e-mail cclgainesville@gmail.com.

On Monday, March 12, at 1:30 p.m. President Mulkey, a former Professor at the University of Florida, will participate in a press conference at the Civic Media Center (CMC), 433 South Main Street in Gainesville.  He will offer an overview of his presentation on March 13 and field general questions about the imperative of pursuing climate change mitigation.

The press conference is sponsored by CMC and the Gainesville Chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, national organization that seeks to create the political and public will for a sustainable climate, and to empower individuals to have breakthroughs exercising their personal and political power.

For more information on the press conference visit www.civicmediacenter.org, or contact either Abhaya Thiele at (352) 672-4327, abhayathiele@gmail.com, or James Schmidt at the CMC (352) 373-0010, coordinators@civicmediacenter.org.

From 1996 to 2008, President Mulkey served as tenured faculty in UF’s department of botany and as a research associate with the School of Forest Resources and Conservation.

He also served as director of research and outreach/extension for the School of Natural Resources and Environment at UF, and as science adviser to the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida.

President Mulkey co-founded and directed the International Center for Tropical Ecology, a nationally ranked graduate training and conservation program during his tenure at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. He also worked for many years as a research associate for the Smithsonian Institution, Tropical Research Institute.

Mulkey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife from the University of Missouri, Columbia; a Master of Arts degree in Biology and Ecology, also from the University of Missouri; and a Ph.D. in Biology and Ecology from The University of Pennsylvania.

In recent years the issue of global climate change has come to the forefront of the values and focus of Unity College.  Under the leadership of Unity College President Mulkey the College is strengthening its focus.  Curricular majors and programs across the curriculum will focus on the emerging field of Sustainability Science, which probes interactions between global, social and human systems, the complex mechanisms that lead to the degradation of these systems, and concomitant risks to human well-being. He has made training students for careers in service to the mitigation of global climate change a unifying focus.

In 2011, Unity College was named to the top 30 of the Washington Monthly college rankings, and was one of eighteen U.S. colleges and universities named to The Princeton Review’s 2010 Green Rating Honor Roll.

Unity College is a small private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education which emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.

Thursday, March 01, 2012