Honorary Degrees
Julie Packard
For more than three decades, Ms. Julie Packard has been an influential and passionate international leader in ocean conservation and sustainability whose contributions have enhanced CSU Monterey Bay and the surrounding Monterey Peninsula.
Ms. Packard received a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She currently is the Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a position she has held since the Aquarium opened in 1984, the first aquarium to focus on a specific region—the Monterey Bay. She also serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and as a member of the Board of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Under her leadership, the Aquarium has become a major force in promoting deeper understanding of ocean conservation through public programming, research and policy work.
Ms. Packard has a strong track record in supporting conservation work and has served on many boards and commissions, including the California Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund and as member of the Pew Oceans Commission. Currently, she serves as a member of the privately funded Parks Forward Commission that has been charged with assisting the state of California in revamping the financially troubled state park system. She is also a member of the Leadership Council of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.
Through the years, many organizations have recognized Ms. Packard for her work, including a 1998 Audubon Medal for Conservation and a 2004 Ted Danson Ocean Hero Award from Oceana, a leading organization dedicated to ocean conservation. In 2010, she was awarded the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her continuing work to protect marine life and the oceans.
As a longtime member of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Board, she has been instrumental in its philanthropic work, particularly at CSU Monterey Bay, where the Foundation provided substantial support toward the construction of the Chapman Science Academic Center and the Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library. She has personally supported the Division of Science and Environmental Policy with a gift toward the James W. Rote Distinguished Professorship in Marine Science and Policy.
In recognition of her many accomplishments as an ocean conservationist, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University, Monterey Bay are proud to confer upon Julie Packard the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.