Mainella joins board of Children & Nature Network board

Published: April 19, 2010

CLEMSON — Clemson University’s Fran P. Mainella has joined the Children & Nature Network board of directors.

Mainella, a visiting scholar at Clemson who co-chairs the US Play Coalition, is on a mission to see children pull themselves away from televisions and computer monitors to spend more time outdoors.

She joins the network board with two other new members: Howard Frumkin and Betsy Townsend.

The mission of the Children & Nature Network (www.childrenandnature.org) is to build a worldwide movement to reconnect children and nature.

“The addition of these incredibly talented people supports our ambitious agenda and helps us reach new audiences in communities everywhere,” said Cheryl Charles, co-founder and president. “These three outstanding individuals, added to the existing members of the board of directors, will help achieve the goal of reconnecting children and nature.”

Richard Louv, Children & Nature Network chairman and co-founder, welcomed the new board members. “In the four short years since The Children & Nature Network was formed, the work and advancement of our mission to reconnect children and nature has grown exponentially. However, much work remains to be done. We’re delighted to add these wonderful people to our board at this important moment in the children and nature movement.”

Mainella is on the faculty of Clemson’s parks, recreation and tourism management department. She is former National Park Service director, the first woman to hold that position. Among her numerous awards are Clemson University’s prestigious Walter T. Cox Award for Faculty Excellence; Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award from the American Recreation Coalition; William Penn Mott Jr. Award for Excellence; and the 2007 Pugsley Award, the highest award given by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. She also is the Metcalf Lecturer for SUNY-Cortland and the first-ever Ralph Steele Lecturer for East Carolina University. Clemson University named an award in her honor that encourages women to pursue conservation careers. Previously, Mainella served on the Children & Nature Network board of advisers.

Frumkin is special assistant to the director for Climate Change and Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Townsend co-founded and co-chairs Leave No Child Inside Greater Cincinnati, a collaborative of individuals and organizations that was inspired by Richard Louv’s book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.”

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