Education
Dr. Kelly Tzoumis earned her BS in Distributed Studies of Chemistry, Microbiology, and Zoology from Iowa State University in 1985. She completed her MPA from Iowa State University with an emphasis in Environmental Policy and Regulation in 1987. In 1992, she finished her PhD from Texas A&M University in Public Policy/Public Administration with a second major in American Government and a third major in Environmental Policy.
Government Experience
Before entering academe, she worked in the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory. She also worked in the Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, DC. Her work focused on the remediation and cleanup of the legacy of the nuclear weapons and other toxic chemicals. She was a Superfund program manager, and external liaison for the US Department of Energy.
She was a Congressional Fellow for the US Department of Energy to former Senator Paul Simon, where she worked on environmental and science policy on Capitol Hill.
International Experience
Dr. Tzoumis was the Fulbright Distinguished Chair Scholar recipient in Environmental Studies (2003) and taught Environmental Treaties and Governance at the Politecnico di Torino. In 2022-2023, she served as an invited Research Fellow at the Politecnico di Torino, in Italy and the Metropolitan College in Greece.
Global Teaching and Research
She has taught at Elmhurst College, Roosevelt University, and ongoing in the summer session at Johns Hopkins University in the Whiting School of Engineering. Dr. Tzoumis developed a team of global partners in virtual exchange teaching and research with 12 global partners in 10 countries located across 5 continents in order to provide global learning experiences related to environmental sustainability in her DePaul courses. Often, her courses included multiple global partners in a single course allow students and enriched learning experience.
She was awarded the Dammrich Award for innovative teaching. Her courses included virtual reality (3d/360) experiences, game simulations, and employ the use of a mixture of multimedia in order to reach all learners such as green screens, live streaming of interviews with experts, and meetings with students in small groups to engage globally.
She has also received a Blackboard Award for Best Online course and a Best Designed Online course award on Environmental Decision-making and Ethics.She received Teacher of the Year award in 2002 for her outstanding teaching at Roosevelt University and Advisor of the Year for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at DePaul in 2015.
Research Interests
Her research interests include environmental policy and sustainability within the US as well as internationally. She focuses on a range of environmental policy issues such as environmental justice and energy justice, environmental sustainability, brownfield redevelopment, and implementation of environmental policies through executive orders, rule-makings, and environmental impact statements.
Publications
She published her first book with Routledge Press in 2001 titled — Environmental Policy Making in Congress from 1789-1999: Issue Definitions of Wetlands, the Great Lakes, and Wildlife Policies. She has also published 20 articles, a many of book chapters conference papers. She enjoys publishing with students and her colleagues, using longitudinal studies.
Her second book is titled – Toxic Chemical in America: Controversies in Human and Environmental Health, (2021). This book is serving as an expert 2-volume edited set that integrates public policy and environmental science for the reader. It combined her experience in the federal government as an environmental scientist with social sciences in public policy.
Her third book is co-edited book titled – Intercultural and Global Learning – Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by Springer Nature Press in March 2025. In this book, she worked with 36 contributing authors representing 63% of the Global South has been widely accepted. Podcasts are attracting hundreds to thousands weekly interest.
She has been a peer reviewer for nine different presses and has served as co-editor for the Environmental Practice Journal by Cambridge University Press from 2008 to 2012. She served as the Chairperson for the Department of Public Policy Studies from 2004 to 2013 and continues to serve on several of the student-focused committees.
She has also been a peer reviewer and team-lead for the accrediting body for this region, Higher Learning Commission (HLC), since 2003. Currently, she serves on the HLC, NASPAA and AACU DEI committees promoting access for disabled faculty and students. She has also received several grants from both the federal government and private sector. With these grants, she has taken students on field trips to Yellowstone and Teton National Parks, as well as has taught on research vessels on the Great Lakes.
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