Darci Connor Maresca
Assistant Director
School of Earth & Sustainability
Email: dmaresca@umass.edu
For more than fifteen years, Darci Connor Maresca has facilitated meaningful change through a transdisciplinary approach to environmental programs and sustainability initiatives. At UMass Amherst, Darci is responsible for curating the long-term goals, overseeing the day-to-day operations, building vibrant partnerships, and implementing priorities for the School of Earth & Sustainability. A central part of Darci's role is to build capacity and assemble high-impact collaborative teams. Darci also advances the academic mission of the university through her leadership role as Interim Graduate Program Director with the MS Sustainability Science Program. All of her work at UMass relies on strong partnerships with university officials, campus colleagues, alumni, regional organizations, and workforce leaders.
With strong interpersonal and organizational skills, Darci specializes in strategic planning, team building, communications, and stakeholder engagement. Many of her projects focus on coastal resilience, climate change, sustainable food systems, and conservation planning. Her diverse experience includes launching new initiatives, program development, process design, policy implementation, assessment, and development. An emphasis in her career has been to develop strong and lasting partnerships with diverse, multi-interest, transdisciplinary teams.
Darci earned her Master of Science in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University in 2007. Prior to that, Darci received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Management from the University of Rhode Island.
