Scott McVay

Scott McVay is a trustee of the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.

"A life-long contributor to the public interest, Scott McVay has been a member of the KSTF Board of Trustees since 1998. In 1999 he directed the national search which led to the selection of Dr. Angelo Collins as the Foundation’s Executive Director.  Mr. McVay’s life and career underscore his conviction that great teaching and continuing education are the soul of a healthy and secure society.   From 2001 to 2003, he led the Chautauqua Institution, the not-for-profit educational center in southwestern New York State, as that organization’s 16th president.  Prior to joining KSTF’s Board, he served as founding executive director of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation (1976-1998), where he directed strategic grant-making in K-12 education, the arts, and the welfare of animals.  Mr. McVay was also the founding executive director of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation (1972-1975). In the early stages of his career, he worked for Princeton University as Recording Secretary and Assistant to President Robert F. Goheen.

"A champion of education, conservation, and the well-being of marine mammals among other causes, Mr. McVay has published papers in Scientific American, Science and Natural History on the subject of whales. He led two expeditions to the Alaskan Arctic to study, record and film the rare Bowhead whale, resulting in a lead paper in American Scientist (1973) and a film documentary by the National Film Board of Canada (1974).  Mr. McVay has written chapters for books on biophilia, the humane treatment of all life, and philanthropy including an essay “The Philanthropic Tipping Point” in JUST MONEY:  A Critique of Contemporary American Philanthropy (2004).

"Mr. McVay has served on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund; the Smithsonian Institution; W. Alton Jones Foundation; National Park Foundation; World Resources Institute; and on the U.S. delegation to the International Whaling Commission. He currently serves on the boards of the New Jersey Network for public television and radio; Bat Conservation International; Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University; Princeton Environmental Institute; and Storm King Art Center.

"Mr. McVay is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Albert Schweitzer Award from the Animal Welfare Institute; the Princeton Class of 1955 award; the Joseph Wood Krutch medal from the Humane Society of the United States; the Lyndon Baines Johnson Award from the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars; the New Jersey Council for the Humanities Citizen of the Year 1998; and an honorary doctorate from Middlebury College."


 * Director, Earth Policy Institute
 * Trustee, NJN Foundation

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 * Roger Payne