Cathy Jordan
Ad Hoc Appointee
Minneapolis, MN
Cathy Jordan, PhD has spent her career at the University of Minnesota and is currently a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Leadership and Education at the Institute on the Environment (IonE). At IonE, Cathy leads a team that cultivates sustainability awareness in students and supports sustainability-savvy leaders with soft skills that make them more effective change agents. She also serves as the Consulting Director of Research for the Children & Nature Network (C&NN). A pediatric neuropsychologist by training, Cathy combines her expertise in child health and development, research, and science communication to lead C&NN’s efforts to make sense of the research on the benefits of nature and to activate research findings for application by the children and nature movement. She brings her passion for sustainability and planetary health to her role at C&NN, and her passion for connecting children to nature to her environmental leadership work at the Institute on the Environment. Cathy has worked extensively in efforts to build capacity for participatory partnerships between institutions and communities and believes whole-heartedly that decisions are better when made in collaboration with those most affected by the issues. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Wayne State University, completed a clinical internship at Brown University and post-doctoral training in pediatric neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota. She enjoys paddling, hiking, shape note singing and watching her amazing outdoorsy kids grow into amazing outdoorsy adults.