Frances Perkins Center in Damariscotta announces the addition of two new members to its board of directors: Peter Blaze Corcoran of Freeport, Maine and Sanibel Island, Florida, and Susan Kirk of Needham, Massachusetts.

“Corcoran’s expertise in environmental education and sustainability issues will be critical in helping guide the Frances Perkins Center in our transition as new owners of the 57-acre Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark property in Newcastle in concert with our conservation easement with the Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust. Kirk brings organizational leadership to contemporary issues of social equality and economic justice that will help inform program development and implementation as we expand the Center’s outreach and learning opportunities for people of all ages. We could not be more pleased to announce their addition to our board,” said board chair Sarah Peskin.

Dr. Peter Blaze Corcoran is professor emeritus of environmental studies and environmental education at Florida Gulf Coast University and a founding faculty member and director of the university’s Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education. He has been a Faculty Member at College of the Atlantic, Swarthmore College, and Bates College and has held appointments as a visiting professor at universities in Australia, the Netherlands, Fiji, Malaysia, and Kenya. Corcoran has served on scholarly journal editorial boards, published articles in professional journals on environmental education, sustainability in higher education, and Earth Charter education, and authored many books related to environmental studies and global environmental issues. His recent books include “Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education,” Wageningen Academic Publishers (2017), and “Intergenerational Learning and Transformative Leadership for Sustainable Futures,” Wageningen Academic Publishers (2014).

New posts since Corcoran’s retirement include research fellow at the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development at University for Peace in San José, Costa Rica; senior fellow at Forum 21 Institute in New York City; and senior advisor at Unity Earth Center in Melbourne, Australia. He serves United Nations Environment (UNEP) as a member of the steering committee of the Global University Partnership for Environment and Sustainability, representing North America.

Susan Kirk is a Massachusetts-based community organizer and activist. She has served on the board of the League of Women Voters of Needham, Massachusetts and as membership co-chair, the Progressive Massachusetts/Needham Steering Committee, the Bay Colony Rail Trail Board, as an elected Needham Town Meeting member, and as a volunteer coordinator with Family Promise Metrowest, an organization that supports families with children who are homeless by mobilizing a diverse community to provide shelter, education and comprehensive support.

Kirk has helped organize many social, economic justice, and human rights focused community activities and forums, including a 2018 event “Frances Perkins, The Woman Behind the New Deal” with author Kirstin Downey. She coordinated exhibition of the Frances Perkins Center traveling exhibit including the Mass. Democratic Convention in Springfield, the 2019 Indivisible Conference in Worcester, at performances of the play “We Did it For You”/ Women’s Journey through History, and also in conjunction with an exhibit on Molly Dewson at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Kirk’s Maine ties include frequent summer stays in Friendship and living in Portland and Falmouth. Her son attended The Landing School in Kennebunk and daughter graduated from Bowdoin College where Kirk was a member of the Bowdoin College Parents Executive Committee.

To learn more about the Frances Perkins Center, call (207) 563-3374, email info@francesperkinscenter.org, or visit www.FrancesPerkinsCenter.org