| GRESHAM RILEY AWARD RECIPIENT 2007 |
 Walter E. Hecox '64
As a long-standing professor at CC, Walt Hecox is accustomed to grading his students. As a co-creator of the State of the Rockies Project, he also hands out grades on a different level.
The project, started by Colorado College in 2003, features an annual State of the Rockies report card, in which project participants and researchers examine community, environmental and economic issues throughout the Rocky Mountain region and issue a report card.
State of the Rockies was designed to inform stakeholders about critical issues, encourage dialogue and collaborative action to protect and nurture the Rockies, connect peer communities and stimulate Colorado College student contributions.
It has become a large part of Walt’s job at CC; so large, in fact, that a year ago, he moved from the economics department to the environmental
science department.
The move made sense, Walt says, but it has been an adjustment. For more than 30 years, Walt had become known for his grasp of international economics. He studied and taught in Pakistan under Fulbright fellowships; he served as trade and tariff policy advisor to the Government of Kenya under the auspices of the World Bank, and he managed and performed
research around the world and in the U.S., including work for the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
But now, with the State of the Rockies in its fifth year, Walt focuses on the Rockies and environmental economics, co-directs the State of the Rockies and teaches courses on such environmental topics as sustainable development.
He believes the environmental science courses he teaches are essential. “It’s important that our students leave here as effective advocates of the environment.”
Walt and his wife Ann ’64 have two children, Sarah and Eric.
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