About Courtney's Work
Courtney Schultz is Director of the School of Sustainable Futures at Colorado State University, and is a Professor specializing in wildfire governance, climate adaptation, and environmental policy. Her work focuses on how communities, institutions, and governments navigate environmental change, with particular emphasis on collaborative governance, climate resilience, forest and fire management, and the social dimensions of adaptation.
Schultz has led major interdisciplinary initiatives connecting sustainability, climate, and futures-oriented education across the university, including the development of cross-campus climate studies programs involving dozens of departments and multiple colleges. She also directs collaborative research partnerships with agencies, communities, and universities across the United States, supported by funding from organizations including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Increasingly, her work explores the role of futures thinking, sociotechnical imaginaries, and anticipatory governance in environmental decision-making. Drawing from scholarship in science and technology studies, democratic foresight, and environmental governance, she is developing new approaches to sustainability education and public engagement that emphasize imagination, pluralism, and democratic participation in shaping sustainable futures.