Rate My Professor Courtney Schultz

Dr. Courtney Schultz is Professor of Forest and Natural Resource Policy in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University. Since January 15, 2025, she has served as Director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability, responsible for advancing interdisciplinary scholarship, innovation in sustainability education, and solutions-oriented partnerships across campus, Colorado, and international networks. She also directs the Public Lands Policy Group, leads the CSU Climate Initiative since 2023, founded the Climate Adaptation Partnership in 2020, and oversees work at the CSU Climate Hub in Denver. Her academic career at CSU began in 2010 as Assistant Professor of Forest and Natural Resource Policy. Prior to that, she was a Presidential Management Fellow with the USDA Forest Service from 2009 to 2010. Schultz holds a Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Montana (2009), an M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Maryland (2004), and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University (1997).

Her research centers on forest governance, with a focus on wildfire resilience, climate adaptation, collaborative restoration, and the role of science in policy and decision-making. Through the Public Lands Policy Group, she and her team produce applied research that informs agency practice and supports federal and state partners in advancing social-ecological resilience. Key publications include "Rethinking resilience to wildfire" in Nature Sustainability (2019), "Fire and climate change: conserving seasonally dry forests is still possible" in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (2020), "Collaborations and capacities to transform fire management" in Science (2019), "Measuring ecological integrity: history, practical applications, and research opportunities" in BioScience (2016), "The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program: a history and overview of the first projects" in Journal of Forestry (2012), and "Policy barriers and opportunities for prescribed fire application in the western United States" in International Journal of Wildland Fire (2019). With over 3,300 citations on Google Scholar, her scholarship has influenced forest policy and management, including providing testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in 2023.