Rebecca Stanfield McCown, Director of the National Park Service’s Stewardship Institute, joined ̽̽ ’ Board of Advisors March 1, 2018. A two-time alumna, Dr. Stanfield McCown earned both a master’s degree (2006) and a doctoral degree (2011) from the Rubenstein School with her research focused on racial and ethnic diversity in natural resources and outdoor recreation.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Rebecca Stanfield McCown to the Rubenstein School Board of Advisors,” said Dean Nancy Mathews. “As a leader in the National Park Service on issues of access and environmental equity, she brings expertise that we will greatly value on our Board of Advisors. Her strong ties to the National Park Service and the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, will help to guide the School’s educational and research programs in outdoor recreation.”
While at ̽̽, Dr. Stanfield McCown served on the board of the George Wright Society, and her dissertation was awarded the Best Dissertation Award for 2012 by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Rubenstein School.
After graduating from ̽̽, Dr. Stanfield McCown joined the Stewardship Institute, located at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. As a program manager, she continued to work on youth program evaluation, cultural competency and diversity training, leadership development, and evaluation and promotion of practices that contribute to successful park leadership.
She transformed her dissertation research into a handbook, Beyond Outreach, designed to lead youth and outreach program managers through a series of reflective questions to assess readiness to develop and implement sustainable engagement efforts. She also helped to develop and lead the National Park Service's Urban Agenda, setting the foundation for the role the Service will play in urban areas in its second century.
In her role as Director of the Stewardship Institute, Dr. Stanfield McCown’s work focuses on supporting park service staff and partners so they can, in turn, better serve the American public. Through building partnerships and advancing creative approaches to community engagement and leadership development, the Institute brings practitioners together to advance common goals.
Most recently, her interests have led her to explore how to better support conservation practitioners. She examines the connections between workplace climate, inclusive organizational cultures, and harassment and hostility in the workplace and how these issues can be addressed through communities of practice, peer learning and support, and employee engagement.
Dr. Stanfield McCown earned her undergraduate degree from Colorado State University in 2004.