Michael J. Simsik
Michael J. Simsik
Professorial Lecturer
Part-time Faculty
Contact:
Email:
Michael J. Simsik
Office Phone:
(818)309-5471
Michael Simsik is a senior international development executive with over two decades of leadership experience in sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently the Chief of Operations in North and West Africa for the U.S. Peace Corps managing a portfolio of ten countries stretching from Morocco to Cameroon.
Prior to returning to the Peace Corps Michael worked nine years on energy projects with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent development agency of the U.S. government. Michael served as Country Director in Burkina Faso, overseeing development and pre-implementation of a $450 million energy compact and then as the Regional Team Leader in Côte d’Ivoire leading development of a $322.5 million regional energy compact. While working at the U.S. Embassies in Abidjan and Ouagadougou, Michael also served as a Diplomatic Attaché with a rank equivalent to the Senior Executive Service.
Before joining MCC, Michael served as Chief of Party for U.S. Government-funded regional food security and biodiversity conservation programs in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively. While working in Burkina Faso he also managed project activities in Benin, Chad, and Mali. Prior to working as a CoP, Michael held several senior leadership positions with the U.S. Peace Corps, including Chief of Operations for the Africa Region, Country Director in Mali, and interim Country Director assignments in Senegal and Burkina Faso, Associate Director in Madagascar, Volunteer in Benin, and a Recruiter in Western Massachusetts.
In addition to his program management and operations experience, Michael’s technical experience includes working as a Rural Development Technical Advisor for the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)-International on an integrated conservation and rural development project in southern Madagascar, as well as working as a technical trainer on ten different Peace Corps pre-service training programs in Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, Togo, and the United States.
Prior to beginning his career in international development, Michael worked as a forester preparing timber harvests for private companies in California. Other work experience includes having directed the Urban Agriculture Program for Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City.
Michael holds a doctoral degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, a master’s degree in Forestry from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Michael is fluent in French and a recipient of the distinction of ‘Knight in the Order of Merit of Mines’ for contributions to the energy sector in Côte d’Ivoire.
International development, diplomacy, leadership, energy, food security, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, nonformal adult education
University of Massachusetts, Amherst - May 2003
Ed.D. Degree, Education Policy, Research and Administration
Dissertation: “Priorities in Conflict: Livelihood Practices, Environmental Threats, and the Conservation of Biodiversity in Madagascar”
Focus: International, Extension, and Environmental Education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - December 1992
M.F. Degree, Forestry
Thesis: “Farmer Participation in a Pre-Project Assessment of Receptivity to Agroforestry: A Feasibility Study in the Village of Tanougou, Republic of Benin, West Africa”
Focus: Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Use
University of California, Berkeley - June 1985
B.S. Degree, Forestry
Simsik, M. J., (2012). Lemurs, Landscapes and Livelihoods: The Political Ecology of Biodiversity Conservation in Madagascar, Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Andriamanambina, H. P. & Simsik, M. (2009). “Land Cover Change in Relation to Agricultural Extensification in Southern Madagascar.” The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability. Volume 5, Number 4, pp. 285-308.
Simsik, M. J., (2008). “The Political Ecology of Biodiversity Erosion on the Central Highlands of Madagascar,” in Kaufmann, J., (Ed.), Greening the Great Red Island: Madagascar in Nature and Culture. Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), Pretoria, South Africa.
Simsik, M. J., (2008). “Benin,” “Mali,” “Sierra Leone,” “University of California,” “University of Michigan,” and “World Bank” in The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.
Simsik, M. J., (2007). “Adaptive Management,” “Botswana,” “Dian Fossey,” “League of Conservation Voters,” “Political Ecology,” and the “Sagebrush Rebellion” in The Encyclopedia of Environment and Society. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.
West, P.C., Fortwangler, C. L., Agbo, V., Simsik, M., and Sokpon, N. (2003). “The Political Economy of Ecotourism: Pendjari National Park and Ecotourism Concentration in Northern Benin,” in Brechin, S.R., Wilshusen, P.R., Fortwangler, C.L., and West, P.C., (Eds.), Contested Nature: Promoting International Biodiversity with Social Justice in the Twenty-First Century. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.
Simsik, M. (2003). “Priorities in Conflict: Livelihood Practices, Environmental Threats, and the Conservation of Biodiversity in Madagascar,” Doctoral Dissertation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Simsik, M. (2002). "The political ecology of biodiversity conservation on the Malagasy Highlands," Geojournal, 58:233-242. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands.