DATE: October 10, 2007

CONTACT: Fran Mainella, (864) 656-2566
fmainel@clemson.edu

WRITER: Ross Norton, 624-9566
rnorton@clemson.edu

Fran Mainella receives prestigious Pugsley Medal

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University visiting scholar Fran Mainella, former director of the National Park Service, has been honored with a Cornelius Pugsley Medal from the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration.

Mainella was presented the medal in a Sept. 27 ceremony in Indianapolis. Fellow 2007 Pugsley Medal recipients are Betsy Rogers, author and president of the Foundation for Landscape Studies, and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stuart Udall.

Mainella began her career as a playground leader and became the first woman to serve as director of the National Park Service when President George W. Bush appointed her to the position in 2001. She also served as director of Florida State Parks and executive director of the Florida Recreation and Park Association.
 
She forged her reputation fostering new and innovative partnerships, improving visitor services in national parks, reducing a massive maintenance backlog and revising the National Park Service management policies. She worked to strengthen programs to preserve natural and cultural resources in the parks. Mainella was especially focused on creating opportunities through volunteerism, partnership and outreach programs.

“It was a privilege to see Fran Mainella honored among such esteemed company,” said Health, Education and Human Development Dean Larry Allen, who traveled to Indianapolis for the ceremony. “Fran has made her mark on this country and now she’s helping us create the professionals who will lead parks and recreation deep into this century.”

By the time she left the National Park Service to join the Clemson University faculty in late 2006, Mainella had overseen more than 6,000 maintenance and restoration projects.

At Clemson, Mainella leads seminars for graduate students in the parks, recreation and tourism management program and helps raise funding for a research and training center in park management.

The Pugsley Medals have been awarded since 1928, the first going to Stephen T. Mather, the founder and first director of the National Park Service. Past recipients include publisher Alfred A. Knopf and Lady Bird Johnson. Mainella, awarded a Pugsley Medal in 1998 when she was director of Florida State Parks, is one of the few two-time recipients.

In addition to the Pugsley Medal, the academy also announced that Mainella has been added to its Legends of Parks and Recreation Program, a list of individuals whose contributions have added to the professional growth and capabilities of those in the field today. Mainella’s biographical information is used in the promotional material for the program’s video library on the legends.