The Switzer Foundation is proud of its history of supporting environmental leaders.  Over the past two years, we have delved deeply into how our core values and programs can better reflect the intersection between environmental issues with many other disciplines and perspectives, and to the ways in which we can create supportive pathways to environmental leadership for graduate students from all backgrounds.  We have updated our Mission, Vision and Values statement and welcome your thoughts!

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Many of you received Lissa's email to the Fellows' listserv on Monday with the news that after 20 years as the Switzer Foundation's Executive Director, she would be leaving her position in spring 2019, making way for a new voice and new leadership to take us forward. There will be time and ample opportunity to wish her well before she goes in May (and she's not really going, since she is a Fellow!), but we want to make sure all Fellows have heard the news. An official announcement will be going out within the next couple of weeks, with a job description and link to an application portal. California Environmental Associates will be managing the search.  Stay tuned, and feel free to contact Lissa or Erin any time with your thoughts or questions!  (If you missed the listserv letter and wish to be added to the listserv, or check to make sure your email address is current, please contact Lauren.)

The 2018 Fellows will be convening in Washington, DC, in March for the annual Policy Communications Training and spring retreat.  We have a couple of spots we can offer to alumni in this training.  If you are involved with a current policy issue on which you could use extra training and coaching, this may be of interest.  You would need to commit to pre-work starting in late fall that includes attendance at webinars, developing your message, and taking part in coaching calls with staff from our partners at COMPASS.  All of this pre-work culminates in the two-day training on March 10-11th in DC.  If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Erin by October 10th.  We do not anticipate a formal application process to take part in the training, but interested alumni should be prepared to tell us how you would use the training for a current or ongoing issue.

The recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans  are devised to help Americans make healthy food choices for long-term health. But what about the long-term health of the planet that produces these foods? Fellow Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, an assistant professor at the Friedman School at Tufts University, is part of a team that studied the link between environmental sustainability and the 2015-20 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.