CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Director of the National Park Service, Jonathan Jarvis, will visit Washington College on Tuesday, March 4, to talk about the mission of the NPS and its role in shaping national identity. His presentation, “History, Heritage, and the National Parks: Promoting the Relevance of the American Narrative,” begins at 5:30 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, and will be followed by a reception. Sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, the event is free and open to the public.

As chief steward of the national parks and all of their visitors services and community programming, Director Jarvis heads an agency with a $2,750,000,000 annual budget, 28,000 employees and more than 2 million volunteers. The NPS that today preserves and celebrates our majestic wilderness and honors the contributions of important Americans, both famous and lesser known, was created in 1916, forty-four years after Yellowstone was designated as the world’s first national park. It added its 401stsite in 2013 when it dedicated the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland’s Dorchester County.

“A cherished part of America’s heritage, our national parks and monument sites face many challenges in an era of declining budgets but increasing visitation,” notes Ted Maris-Wolf, the deputy director of the C.V. Starr Center. “We are thrilled to welcome Director Jarvis to campus and look forward to this ultimate insider’s insights on the present-day state of the NPS and its future.”

Prior to taking the helm as the eighteenth director of the NPS, Jonathan Jarvis served as the Regional Director of the Pacific West Region, responsible for 58 units of the Park system. During his long career with the Service, he’s been a protection ranger, resource management specialist and park biologist, and served as Chief of Natural and Cultural Resources nationwide. He has published and lectured on the role of science in parks and has extensive experience in developing government-to-government relations with Native American tribes, gateway community planning, relicensing, major facility design and construction, wilderness management and general management planning. 

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Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in colonial Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For more information, visit www.washcoll.edu. 

The College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is dedicated to fostering innovative approaches to the American past and present. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large. For more information on the Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.