Eliza Townsend, Distinguished Maine Policy Fellow April 9

The Policy Center welcomes Eliza Townsend, Executive Director of the Maine Women’s Lobby and the Maine Women’s Policy Center, to UMaine as a Distinguished Maine Policy Fellow on Monday, April 9th.

Eliza represented Portland for four terms in the Maine House of Representatives. During her tenure, she served two years on the Human Resources committee, and six years the Appropriations & Financial Affairs committee. As the House Chair of Appropriations, she helped to establish the Fund for a Healthy Maine. Eliza then became the first Executive Director of the Maine League of Conservation Voters, a position she held for more than six years. In 2007, she joined the Maine Department of Conservation as Deputy Commissioner and served as Commissioner in 2010.

Distinguished Maine Policy Fellows are prominent Maine individuals with past or current careers as policy makers in the state. The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center brings these individuals to campus for a day to teach an undergraduate class, engage faculty about research and public policy, and meet with UMaine administration and graduate students.

Townsend’s visit is co-sponsored by Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Rising Tide Center and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.

A reception with Eliza Townsend will be held from 4:00 – 5:00 in the University Club of Fogler Library and is open to the public.