Kean University’s Nicky Sheats, Ph.D., Receives Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award

UNION, N.J. — The Director of the Center for the Urban Environment at Kean University’s John S. Watson Institute, Nicky Sheats, Ph.D., received a 2023 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award, a premier honor recognizing outstanding environmental work in New Jersey.

Sheats, an attorney, scholar and leader in the environmental justice community, received the award in the category of environmental justice on December 18 in Trenton.

“It is an honor to receive the award, which I feel is really in recognition of what the New Jersey environmental justice community has accomplished together,” Sheats said. “This is important work.”

Sheats was one of 12 environmental leaders receiving awards.

“The achievements of this year’s award winners capture the essence of environmentalism in New Jersey and set a shining example for us all to follow,” said state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. “It’s an honor to celebrate their determined efforts to protect the state’s natural resources and help others connect to nature.”

Sheats was recognized for his instrumental role in  the development and passage of New Jersey’s landmark environmental justice law, and his work establishing pollution reduction policies.

“His recent efforts seek to integrate environmental justice in climate mitigation policies called Mandatory Emissions Reductions (MER) that target reductions of associated co-pollutants, along with greenhouse gas emissions, and which impact overburdened communities,” DEP said in a statement.

Sheats convened the state’s first MER policy workgroup with the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, and was lead author of a recently published paper exploring the implementation of MER policies in New Jersey, Minnesota and Delaware.

At the Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research, Sheats provides leadership on environmental justice, and scientific, legal, financial and other issues affecting communities throughout the state and nation.

Kean Senior Vice President for Transformational Learning and External Affairs Joseph Youngblood, Ph.D., said Sheats has been a “visionary” leader for 20 years as director of the Center for the Urban Environment.

“Dr. Sheats was a pioneering researcher and policy expert in the environmental justice movement in America,” Youngblood said. “His work at Kean’s Watson Institute has informed state and federal policies that mitigate the cumulative impacts of environmental hazards and eliminate the disproportionate impact of environmental racism on communities of color. His life’s work and influence will have a lasting impact on society.”

Sheats said key areas being addressed from an environmental justice standpoint are cumulative impact of pollutants on neighborhoods; climate change mitigation policy that ensures communities are benefitted, rather than harmed, as they fight climate change; chemical policy and waste policy.

Sheats said credit also goes to the New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, the Tishman Environment and Design Center of the New School, the Ironbound Community Corporation, the South Ward Environmental Alliance and the Center for the Urban Environment.