Robert G. Stanton, the 15th director of the National Park Service (Ret.), will speak about the history and functions of the National Park Service (NPS).  He will focus on the management of the 85-million-acre National Park System, which comprises 425 park areas located in every state, DC, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He’ll discuss the purpose, benefits, challenges and opportunities of the park areas in preserving the nation’s rich and diverse natural and collective cultural heritage. He’ll also illustrate the value of the parks as educational resources toward achieving a better understanding and support for environmental protection and social justice.

Robert G. Stanton, former NPS Director and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is a consultant and lecturer in conservation, historic preservation and diversity.  He is also a former Expert Member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency.

In 1997, he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 15th Director of the NPS where he served to the end of the Clinton Administration. Over the course of his 35-year career with the NPS, he held key management and executive positions including park management assistant, park superintendent, deputy regional director, regional director, assistant director, associate director and director. His career with the NPS started in 1962 as a seasonal park ranger at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he grew up in Mosier Valley, one of the oldest communities in Texas founded by African Americans shortly after the Civil War. He is active in conservation and civic affairs and serves on a number of boards and advisory councils.

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