News Stories

Trent Hodges
Student Trent Hodges’ summer 2014 fellowship working on ““surfonomics” with Save the Waves in Mexico was funded by generous supporters of the Center for the Blue Economy, and included the opportunity to participate in a “paddle out” ceremony.

The Monterey Institute has received a $1.8 million challenge gift that aims to both support and inspire the continued growth and expansion of the Institute’s ocean and coastal economics research and education center, the Center for the Blue Economy.

The gift has three components: a $600,000 outright gift in the first year (beginning July 1, 2014), and challenge matching gifts of $600,000 in each of the following two years, with the goal of generating at least $3 million for the center’s operations over the next three years.

“This generous challenge gift will help to ensure the continued vitality and growth of the Center for the Blue Economy over the next several years,” commented MIIS President Sunder Ramaswamy. “It should serve to inspire other individuals, foundations, and grant-makers to meet this donor’s challenge and raise additional major support, including endowed funds, to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Center. I look forward to working with potential supporters worldwide who care about the future of our oceans.”

CBE Director Jason Scorse, a MIIS professor who also chairs the school’s Master of Arts in International Environmental Policy program, said “this new gift and the challenge it kicks off will allow the CBE to build upon the strong momentum generated over the past two years. It will allow us to expand our economic databases and analyses into new and important policy areas where economic data is lacking. We will also launch our new Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics this year, expand our international efforts beyond Asia and Europe, and be able to provide significantly more financial support to students enrolling in the ocean and coastal resource management concentration in our International Environmental Policy program.”

“The CBE is uniquely positioned to make the economic case for ocean conservation and to better inform decision makers with important economic information long absent from policy dialogue,” added Scorse. “We hope to play a key role in helping to shape policies on ocean and coastal issues in the years ahead.”

For More Information

Jason Warburg
jwarburg@middlebury.edu
831.647.3156

Eva Gudbergsdottir
eva@middlebury.edu
831.647.6606