Staff
Okey Ukaga
Executive Director
U of M Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership
Cloquet Forestry Center
179 University Road
Cloquet, MN 55720
Phone: (218) 341-6029
Fax: (218) 879-0857
E-mail: ukaga001@umn.edu
Okechukwu Ukaga is the Executive Director of Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership, University of Minnesota (NMSDP). In this capacity, he provides programmatic leadership for integrated, education, research and outreach projects/programs that promote sustainable development in northeastern Minnesota by utilizing university resources to meet community identified needs. Under his leadership, over the past seven years, NMSDP has engaged in a variety of partnerships projects involving over 64,000 community members; 379 community organizations and businesses; 300 university faculty connections, 418 students from 42 university programs and departments. These projects represent investments of about $1 million in NMSDP resources and have leveraged approximately $81.3 million in matching funds, for a total of $82.3 million (http://aesweb.coafes.umn.edu/RSDP).
Dr. Ukaga is also a Full Extension Professor with the University of Minnesota Extension.Before coming to Minnesota, he served as Managing Director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development at Colorado State University for five years. In that capacity, he managed a variety of sustainable community development projects and worked with organizations and people from countries in Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East on such projects. He received a Ph.D. in agricultural and extension education, from Penn State University, an M.S. in education and an M.B.A. from Florida A & M University, and a Post Graduate Diploma in agricultural economics from the University of Nigeria, and a Higher National Diploma in fisheries from Imo State College of Agriculture. He has previously worked/taught at Colorado State University, Penn State University and Florida A & M University.
Dr. Ukaga has served and continues to serve on many important boards and international project teams. Examples include: Executive Board of the Minnesota Evaluation Association, Minnesota Sea Grant College, Consortium for Sustainable Village Based Development, and Renewing the Countryside, Inc. to name a few. He also served as a member of a Kettering Foundation funded national (USA) task force on the practice of public scholarship in land-grant institutions, a member of a European Union funded international task force on evaluation of sustainable development, and a consultant for the Florida A & M University-United States Agency for International Development Agribusiness Development Program (ADP) training in South Africa. His work has been applied and adapted in many parts of the world including various countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Examples include evaluation of Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships in Minnesota, USA; planning and evaluation of extension service program of several universities in Indonesia, HELPO Foundation's rural development project in India, and development of indicators for Sustainable Urban Brownfield Regeneration Integrated Management (SUBR:IM) consortium case study sites located in Manchester and Barking in Essex, United Kingdom.
Dr. Ukaga has written and/or coauthored over 50 publications including books, book chapters, special edition of a scholarly journal, journal articles, conference papers, and project reports. His book Renewing the Countryside; (2001, co-edited with Jan Joannides, Sara Bergan, Mark Ritchie, and Beth Waterhouse) highlights the success stories of people across Minnesota’s diverse and beautiful landscapes who are conserving and enhancing the state’s natural and cultural resources while spurring local economic and community development. His book Evaluating Sustainable Development (2004, co-authored with Chris Maser) presents the principles and tools for participatory evaluation of sustainable development. His latest book Sustainable Development in Africa (2005, co-edited with Osita Afoaku) examines factors limiting sustainable development in Africa and offers reasoned suggestions on practical strategies for achieving development in Africa that is anchored on the values of sustainability, appropriateness and equity. His forthcoming book Sustainable Development: Principles, Frameworks and Cases (2009, co-edited with Chris Maser and Michael Reichenbach) summarizes selected key sustainable development models, including salient case examples that illustrate each model or framework.
Diane Seefeldt
Executive Administrative Specialist
U of M Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership
Cloquet Forestry Center
179 University Road
Cloquet, MN 55720
Phone: (218) 726-6466
Fax: (218) 879-0857
E-mail: seefe012@umn.edu
Diane Seefeldt is the Executive Secretary for the Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership as well as Executive Administrative Specialist for the University of Minnesota Extension, Regional Office-Cloquet. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota Extension Diane has worked in the paper manufacturing industry (sales support, pricing, transportation, complaint handling, accounts receivable), banking (operations, marketing, purchasing, IT security, disaster recovery & legal services), and administrative support in education and camera & audio visual sales.
