Wynn Calder became director of ULSF in 2007 when it ceased its affiliation with The Humane Society of the United States. He had been the associate director since 1999. Wynn and Rick Clugston joined together as co-directors in the fall of 2012.
Wynn was review editor for the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development from its inception in 2007 to 2016, and was news editor for the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education for several years before 2007. He has written extensively on the topic of education for sustainability. He was editor of the ULSF bi-annual report, The Declaration, from 1997 through 2005. Wynn is a co-founder of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development. He served on the advisory council of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education, which focuses on primary and secondary education, and on the senior council of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education until 2016.
Wynn directed Sustainable Schools, LLC.until 2024, when retired from consulting work in EfS. He consulted with K-12 schools, colleges and universities to build environmental literacy and sustainability into strategic planning, teaching and institutional practice. Wynn also served as principal consultant on sustainability for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) from 2003-2019, and designed and chaired the NAIS summer Institute for Leadership in Sustainability from 2005 to 2009.
Prior to joining ULSF, Wynn worked for six years at Harvard University in academic advising, undergraduate admissions and departmental administration. Wynn attended Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. He received his Bachelors degree from Harvard University in 1984, an MA in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School in 1993, and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Framingham State University in 2019. He is currently practicing as a psychotherapist. Wynn lives with his family in Wayland, MA.
Selected publications include:
- Calder, Wynn, “Sustainability, Ethics, and Spirituality: Why Independent Schools Must Act,” in Connections, The Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education, Vol. XXX, No. 8, May 2011.
- Calder, Wynn and Dautremont-Smith, Julian, “Higher Education: Emerging Laboratories for Inventing a Sustainable Future,” in Agenda for a Sustainable America, John C. Dernbach ed., Environmental Law Institute, 2009.
- Calder, Wynn, “Driving the Sustainability Initiative at Your School,” in Welcome to the Jungle: A Business Officer’s Guide to Independent School Finance and Operations, National Business Officers Association, 2009.