JENKINTOWN, Penn. — The Society of Environmental Journalists welcomes Dennis Dimick, retired National Geographic magazine executive environment editor, to the SEJ Board of Directors. The board appointed Dimick to fill an open seat created when board member Douglas Fischer stepped down in June.
“It is a great honor to be asked to join the board of the Society of Environmental Journalists,” Dimick said. “Most of my 40-year career as a journalist has been devoted to raising public awareness of environmental issues, and this appointment gives me a chance to continue and enhance that work as part of the SEJ team.”
SEJ Board President Jeff Burnside said few journalists have been able to contribute as much to environmental literacy as Dimick has during his remarkable career.
“SEJ is so fortunate to have someone of the caliber and national reputation of Dennis Dimick serving on our board of directors,” Burnside said. “As SEJ begins looking for our next executive director and new location for our headquarters, it will be particularly valuable to have someone with the insight, experience and leadership of Dennis on our volunteer board.”
Dimick served as executive environment editor at National Geographic magazine and was a picture editor at the National Geographic Society for more than 35 years until his retirement from the Society at the end of 2015. He guided a variety of major magazine projects, including a special issue on global freshwater in April 2010, a 2011 series on global population and a 2014 series on global food security.
In September 2004, he orchestrated a 74-page, three-story project on climate change called “Global Warning: Bulletins from a Warmer World.” In 2014, he created and edited projects on the future of coal as an energy source and on the vanishing snowpack of the American West.
“I hope to draw on my background covering issues like climate change, freshwater supply and future food security to help SEJ members keep these and other relevant concerns before the public,” Dimick said.
From 2008-2012, Dimick co-organized the Aspen Environment Forum, and he regularly presents slide-show lectures on global environmental issues. For 19 years he has been a faculty member of the Missouri Photo Workshop, and in 2013 received the Sprague Memorial Award from the National Press Photographers Association for outstanding service to photojournalism. His work has also received awards from the Society of Environmental Journalists and Pictures of the Year International.
Dimick, who grew up on an Oregon farm, holds degrees in agriculture and agricultural journalism from Oregon State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists (sej.org), the National Press Photographers Association (nppa.org) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (aaas.org).
Dimick replaces Fischer, who has resigned after seven years of service on the SEJ Board.
“I spent seven thoroughly enjoyable years on the board,” Fischer said. “I will miss that involvement and service. But I also see the need for fresh perspective, thinking and energy, especially as SEJ transitions to new leadership in the next year. But like so many of us, I'm still in love with SEJ, still see the group's tremendous value to environmental journalism and the larger effort of public literacy, and I still see tremendous potential for growth. I'll still be part of the community.”
Burnside said Fischer has made a sweeping, positive impact on environmental journalism with his confidence, clear thinking and leadership.
“Douglas is a genuine visionary and has brought so much of his talent, leadership and hard work to the SEJ board of directors,” Burnside said.
The Society of Environmental Journalists, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015, is the oldest and largest such group in the world. The award-winning non-profit is one of America's leading journalism associations and is based in Jenkintown, PA. www.sej.org
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