North Central alumnus, advisor to EPA to discuss federal sustainability efforts.

Charlie Bartsch—a North Central College Class of 1973 alumnus and political science and history major—will give a lunchtime lecture that’s open to the campus community on Friday, April 12. He is senior program advisor for economic development to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assistant administrator Mathy Stanislaus.

His talk is titled “Federal Sustainability Efforts at a Time of Economic Uncertainty—What Is Being Done Now?” and includes lunch from 11:50 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. in Smith Hall. An RSVP is required; contact Joan Long at 630-637-5213 or jelong@noctrl.edu.

Bartsch, a political appointee to the EPA who’s worked in the nation’s capital for 17 years, is charged with promoting interagency and public-private financing partnerships to spur land revitalization and site use. His focus has been on brownfield and community redevelopment/reuse strategies and financing, and he is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on these issues.

Among his duties at the EPA, he works closely with the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities, serves as the assistant administrator’s representative on the EPA-wide green infrastructure task force and Hurricane Sandy recovery team, and is taking a leading role in developing the agency’s manufacturing revitalization strategy as part of the administration’s emerging 2013 sectoral initiative.

Bartsch received a master’s degree in urban policy and planning from the University of Illinois-Chicago.