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Dr. Toddi Steelman
Vice President and Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability
Dr. Toddi Steelman is Vice President and Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability at Duke University. She is the administrative and academic lead for the Duke Climate Commitment—a university wide initiative to unite Duke’s education, research, operations, and public service missions to engage the entire community in the pursuit of climate change solutions. She previously served as Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment (2018-2023).
She is best known as a wildland fire expert and has brought her expertise to bear in a variety of venues including the Royal Society (UK), National Academy of Sciences (US) and as an invited keynote speaker in Portugal, Canada, Germany, Australia, and the United States. She is a past-President of the International Association of Wildland Fire. Her research agenda has focused on understanding community responses to wildfire, wildland fire communication and how communities and agencies interact for more effective wildfire management on large, interjurisdictionally complex wildfires. The author of four books, Steelman has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, as well as opinion and editorial pieces in Nature, the Globe and Mail, The Hill and the Los Angeles Times.