Senior Director for Bioeconomy and Engagement
Boulder, Colorado
colleen.scanlanlyons@colorado.edu
Colleen Scanlan Lyons is an environmental anthropologist with decades of experience building international networks, developing sustainability education, and bridging social, economic, and environmental interests to advance integrated forest conservation and development.
Since 2015, she has directed the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force). With the GCF Task Force, Colleen leads work on socio-bioeconomy development, Indigenous Peoples and Local Community integration, and partnership-building across scientific, policy, and sustainability communities. Based at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colleen is also an Associate Research Professor in the Environment and Society Program within the Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS) and directs IBS’s Center for the Governance of Natural Resources.
At the University of Colorado, Colleen teaches graduate courses in CU’s Masters of the Environment Program, including a sustainability field course with Brazilian faculty and students. She also conducts research and consulting spanning livelihoods and conservation in the Atlantic Forest to environmental governance and forest citizenship across the Amazon. Her book, Running After Paradise: Hope, Survival, and Activism in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, explores social movements in Southern Bahia’s biodiversity hotspot through the voices of community leaders; it has recently been released as an audiobook and is being published in Portuguese in 2026.
Colleen holds a PhD (2010) and MA (2002) in Anthropology from CU Boulder, an MA in Intercultural Management/Development Practice (1995) from the School for International Training, and a BA in American Studies (1990) from the University of Notre Dame.
Across her work endeavors, Colleen aims to bring creative, strategic thinking and serves as a connector for collective action and results-oriented partnerships among government, civil society, private, philanthropic, scientific, and academic communities.