Profile
John Clinton received a BA at The University of Michigan (magna cum laude; high honors in history); a master’s degree at Northwestern University; and a PhD at Fordham University. He has served as corporation senior consultant on social responsibility at MetLife; senior vice president of the NGO Lighthouse International; and as an administrator at New York University, Fordham University, and Hartwick College. He has been a consultant and adviser to foundations, nonprofit organizations, corporations, and higher education institutions, including the Ford and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations; the World Health Organization Global Program on AIDS; and the College Board, and has taught at NYU, Long Island University, and Iona College. He was vice chairman of the Contributions Advisory Group–a network of major corporate philanthropic programs–and a member of the steering committee of the National Interprofessional Education and Training Network.
Clinton led the development of the MS Program in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management, and served as its founding director. During service on the New School university faculty senate, he chaired its Academic Policy Committee, and was chair of the senate’s task force on sustainable and socially responsible design and construction. He also chaired the Milano faculty work group on sustainability, served on the inaugural grant-making board of the university Green Fund and on the New School Sustainability Advisory Committee, and has served as faculty adviser to the student organizations Net Impact, Students for Animal Rights, and the Sustainable Cities Club. He was the lead faculty for Milano in the Solar Decathlon–an international competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy to design and build a model house that is environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable, in which The New School was a finalist and won the Affordability Competition.
Clinton has also served as chair of the university Environmental Studies program, acting chair of the Human Resource Management program, and as special adviser to the provost, and helped establish the New York City Sustainability in higher Education Working Group. Most recently, he was adviser to the Executive Dean of the Schools of Public Engagement and to the Tishman Environment and Design Center.