Trevor Houser ’06 joins Colin Powell School’s Board of Visitors

The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York is pleased to announce the appointment of international climate policy analyst Trevor Houser ’06 to its Board of Visitors. He joins 29 other distinguished Board Members.

Houser is Partner with the Rhodium Group, where he leads the firm’s Energy & Climate Practice. He also co-directs the Climate Impact Lab, a collaboration of leading research institutions combining climate, economic and data science to quantify climate risk around the world. He has served as a senior advisor at the U.S. State Department, where he worked on international energy, natural resource and environmental policy issues, and as a Visiting Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“Trevor Houser is one of our own, a Colin Powell School graduate from the very first class of Colin Powell Fellows. He is now a well-known leader around climate and energy, devoting his energies internationally and right here, with our students, at the Colin Powell School,” said General Colin L. Powell, a 1958 CCNY alumnus and Chair of the Colin Powell School Board of Visitors. “Trevor represents a new generation of leaders on the Board of Visitors, and I am glad to have his valuable perspective.”

“Trevor is proof positive of the Colin Powell School’s mission. He is an extraordinary leader, analyst, and community-builder, and he brings his commitment not only to national and international stages; he is devoted to our students, supporting them every day as the founder and director of our Climate Policy Fellows program,” said Andrew Rich, the Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Dean of the Colin Powell School. “Trevor brings deep knowledge and experience to the Colin Powell School, and I am grateful to have his leadership on the Board of Visitors.”

Houser’s fascinating life story includes his dropping out of high school, and returning to college at CCNY after obtaining his GED. Under the mentorship of political science professors Andrew Rich (now dean of the School) and Vincent G. Boudreau (now president of the College), international studies program director Marina Fernando, and economics professor Kevin Foster, Houser became a Colin Powell Fellow, developing an interest in international economic and environmental policy with the encouragement of the College’s first Diplomat in Residence, Amb. Mark Minton. He subsequently learned Chinese, and began working on Chinese energy and environment policy during a six-month U.S. State Department internship at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.   
“I am excited to bring insights from my experiences at City College to the Colin Powell School’s Board of Visitors,” said Houser, citing the high quality of his education, his ability to obtain financial support as one of the first Colin Powell Fellows, and his exposure to practitioners in their respective fields. 

In Fall 2019, Houser worked with Dean Rich to create a Climate Policy Fellows Program for City College undergraduates from various disciplines. The Fellowship provides training, professional development, and internship opportunities that link climate-related science, engineering and economics to public policy. Graduates of the Program have gone on to policy careers in well-regarded non-profit organizations and think tanks. 

“For almost 175 years, City College has been an engine of mobility for low-income students, immigrant students and students of color,” said Houser. “That role is more important than ever, particularly in the climate and energy field.”

“The College’s incredible students, talented faculty and network of alumni provide a unique opportunity to broaden the voices and perspectives in climate policymaking,” he added.  

About the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership 
Established in April 2013, the Colin Powell School is home to the social science departments at CCNY as well as the core leadership development and public service programs of the College. With almost 4,000 students, and graduating the most CCNY students annually, the Colin Powell School mission is to transform the nation’s most diverse student body into tomorrow’s global leaders. Half of our students are immigrants; most come from lower income backgrounds. More than seventy percent are first-generation college students, and eighty percent are people of color. The Colin Powell School and City College remain among the most effective engines of economic and social mobility in the United States. The School is led by a faculty dedicated to the highest standards of research and to the university’s democratic and public obligations. Read more about the Colin Powell School.

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.