According to a press release today from the Governor’s office:
Gov. Bill Ritter announced today he will become director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University to build on his internationally leading clean-energy accomplishments of the past four years. Effective Feb. 1, Gov. Ritter also will assume the title of senior scholar within CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
Full release after the jump.
Gov. Bill Ritter announced today he will become director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University to build on his internationally leading clean-energy accomplishments of the past four years. Effective Feb. 1, Gov. Ritter also will assume the title of senior scholar within CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
Gov. Ritter leaves office Jan. 11 after establishing Colorado as a globally recognized clean-energy leader. He worked with the private sector and other partners to help create thousands of new jobs, attract hundreds of new companies and sign an unprecedented 57 clean-energy bills into law. Colorado is now home to the fourth-highest concentration of clean-energy workers in the country, the second-highest renewable energy standard in the nation, and the first law in the country that will convert old and inefficient coal plants to cleaner natural gas.
“The New Energy Economy is now synonymous with Colorado,” Gov. Ritter said, “and the Center for the New Energy Economy will serve as a national leader as we move toward a future in which our children will produce and consume energy far differently than we do today. This new Center will help address three key challenges for America: economic security, energy security and environmental security.
“It will facilitate science-based policy, research, and education to support the growth of clean energy in Colorado, the nation and the world. This is also a natural partnership that allows me to combine two of my passions – higher education and the New Energy Economy – and is something of a homecoming for me.” Gov. Ritter earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from CSU in 1978.
With CSU now considered a world research leader in engineering clean and alternative energy solutions, the Center for the New Energy Economy will be part of the university’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability. Funding for the Center for the New Energy Economy and the Governor’s position will come entirely from private sources: the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation and the Fort Collins-based Bohemian Foundation. Additional funding from a number of other donor organizations is anticipated to build an endowment to sustain the center long-term.
In his new role, Gov. Ritter will work closely with CSU’s rural economic development activities to advance statewide economic initiatives related to clean and renewable energy. Other responsibilities will include:
· Directing and overseeing the development of the Center for the New Energy Economy, working with internal and external partners to clearly define its mission, scope, and a five-year strategic plan.
· Identifying and pursuing opportunities for The Center to lead and participate in productive public policy discussions and debates related to clean-energy policy and the growth of the New Energy Economy.
· Building and promoting the Center as a vital, credible source of unbiased, science-based information, data, and research on clean energy policy and its economic impacts.
· Engaging other universities, the private sector and other partners in the Center’s mission and activities.
“Clean and renewable energy is a new economic frontier, and it’s important for Colorado and our country that we continue to position ourselves as leaders in this emerging economy,” said CSU President Tony Frank. “This policy center — under Gov. Ritter’s leadership — will help build essential partnerships around research-based clean energy solutions, workforce development, and advancement of technologies that will fuel long-term, sustainable economic growth.”
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Best of luck, guv.
This of course builds on Ritter’s reputation as a strong proponent of clean and renewable energy. He should be able to advance this agenda more effectively than when he was governor, since he won’t have the burden of all the other responsibilities the governorship requires.
He could have gotten a tony position in a well connected law firm (like Brownstein, et al), but this position tells me he believes in a higher purpose in life, not unlike the missionary work he and his wife were involved in.
Best of luck to Governor Ritter and his family.
I hope this position will have some policy aspects to it. It would be refreshing to have him weigh in on policy issues over the next 20 years.
I also think it is interesting that he did not go back into law. The man has found religion. Good for him! He never seemed to enjoy being Governor, I hope he enjoys this new gig.
And it leaves him in a great position to move green energy ahead in this state.
CSU’s students will surely benefit as will the institution, if the center can win grants, as it probably can (you don’t get elected to be Governor without an ability to raise funds).
1) He didn’t run again b/c he wanted to spend more time w/ his family… so he took a job w/ a 1.5-hour each way commute.
2) He wants to avoid using public funds so he’s getting his excessive $300K salary paid w/ “donations” — as if he’s not siphoning those donations from CSU.
Good riddance from politics, Ritter.
Can you translate your post to “sane?”
about opting into ICE reporting.
You’re obviously more sober than I am. Normally, with Raymond’s posts, it doesn’t matter how sober you are.
so I’m as dry as the Sahara.
But Ray hasn’t forgiven Romanoff for the 2006 special session, so I’m just assuming as much.
1) I think Ritter’s career decision-making does show him to be a hypocrite for the two reasons I gave.
2) Yes, I’ve thought Ritter was a political hack for a long time — this immigration crap being the latest, and his totally tactical shitting on labor, just to suck up to business, being another.
3) Ralphie, do you get the irony that when you repeatedly insult others about how you’re more sane than they are, you actually aren’t riding the high horse you think you are? But you go ahead and enjoy your sad little fantasy that you’re some sort of elder statesman of the blog-o-web rather than just a whiney old douchebag whose sole joy in life is bragging about how superior he is. And don’t worry, I’ll get off your lawn.
I don’t get that irony.
And get off my lawn.
Look, Ralphie, I get that plenty of folks like Ritter. But your defense of him here makes perfect sense because when you blast my “sanity” for the same sort of post you just made about Salazar, you’re showing that you’re the same sort of fucking hypocrite he is. Except he’s an accomplished man, whereas you’re just a superior little bitch.