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Carol A. Couch, HSE 78, director of the Environmental Protection Division within the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, will address "The Challenges of Georgia's Changing Landscape" during the keynote speech at the Ivan Allen College Founder's Day luncheon March 15.
Couch will deliver the speech, which is open to the public, at 1 p.m. at The Biltmore, 817 W. Peachtree St., Atlanta. The college's namesake, Ivan Allen Jr., who died in 2003 at age 92, was born on March 15.
Honored as recipients of this year's Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service will be Charles and Lessie Smithgall. In 1988, the Smithgalls anonymously committed $3 million to name the college in honor of Allen, Com 33. Charles Smithgall, GS 33, died in 2000.
College Dean Sue V. Rosser said it is fitting for Couch to deliver the keynote address because "the Smithgalls' love of the environment shows in their many gifts to the state of Georgia, Georgia Tech and other Georgia institutions."
Couch, the first woman to lead the Environmental Protection Division in its 35-year history, was appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Board of Natural Resources in October 2003. She is responsible for an 850-person agency that implements and enforces 26 state and four federal laws designed to protect, conserve and restore Georgia's environmental resources.
She chairs the Water Council, a coordinating committee charged with overseeing the development of a comprehensive statewide water plan, and serves on the boards of the Clean Air Campaign and the Livable Communities Coalition.
Before joining the Environmental Protection Division, Couch was a member of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading nationally distributed, multidisciplinary teams of engineers, hydrologists, chemists and biologists in water resource investigations.
She was born in Nuremberg, Germany. Her family settled in Columbus, Ga., after her father retired from the Army. Couch earned a master's degree from the University of South Carolina and a doctorate from the University of Georgia.
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