The dean of green: Alumnus Wozniak wins award for eco advocacy

Paul Wozniak ’78 and ’94 is an environmental historian, a statistical analyst and an environmental educator. He helped write the book on Earth Day — collaborating on Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise with U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson and former University of Wisconsin-Green Bay instructor Susan Campbell.

For his longstanding work in areas of environmental sustainability he will be named the recipient of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Alumni Earth Caretaker Award. The award recognizes University of Wisconsin-Green Bay graduates who have distinguished themselves in their professional field and are widely recognized for their career accomplishments in the areas of sustainability, environmental management, environmental policy, or other closely related areas.

Wozniak will be presented the Alumni Earth Caretaker award at the third annual Green Innovations symposium, April 20 at UW-Green Bay.

In his current position, Wozniak works as a senior consultant with Navigant Consulting of Chicago. His work involves the evaluation of programs attempting to influence “energy behaviors” through advanced communications systems. He is currently advising three of the nation’s largest electric utilities.

“Energy behavior is a relatively new field for managing the consumer demand that drives construction of new power plants and power lines,” Wozniak said. “We all can benefit economically and environmentally by making better decisions in home and business.”

Wozniak spent 12 years working for Integrys Energy Group collecting and analyzing data about consumer psychology involving energy use in the home and small business.

Wozniak volunteers as a historian for the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame and he worked as an associate to help launch UW-Green Bay’s Environmental Management Business Institute. He also serves as a research director for the Fox/Wolf Rivers Environmental History Project.

Among his many civic interests are the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, American Statistical Association, GreenDrinks.org, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, Izaak Walton League, American Society for Environmental History and Wisconsin’s Steel Bridge Song Fest.

He received his bachelor’s degree in Science and Environmental Change and a master’s degree in Environmental Arts & Sciences. Wozniak has received a number of honors at the state, regional and international levels for technical/science writing from the International Association of Business Communicators.