Rick Clugston served as executive director of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE) from 1989 to 2007 and was director of ULSF from 1997 to 2007.

Prior to coming to Washington, Dr. Clugston worked for the University of Minnesota for 11 years, first as a faculty member in the College of Human Ecology, and later as a strategic planner in Academic Affairs, Continuing Education and the Office of the President. He was a consultant to the State Department of Education, the Minnesota Business Partnership, and various colleges and school systems on educational improvement. Dr. Clugston has taught and published on human development, strategic planning, educational reform, and most recently on environmental ethics, spirituality and sustainability.

He received his doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Minnesota (1987), and his masters in Human Development from the University of Chicago (1977). As an undergraduate psychology and biochemistry major at the University of Minnesota (1975), he received the Mayo Foundation Scholarship for Medicine and Medicine Related Fields. His doctoral thesis was selected as dissertation of the year by the American Association of University Administrators.

Selected publications include:

• Clugston, R., "The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development," SGI Quarterly, Soka Gakkai International, October 2004. See article online
• Clugston, R. “Humane Sustainable Development,” in R. Clugston (Ed.) Earth Ethics: Evolving Values for an Earth Community, Vol. 12. No. 1, Spring 2004.
• Calder, W. and R. Clugston, “Lighting Many Fires: South Carolina’s Sustainable Universities Initiative,” in Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability: Problematics, Promise, and Practice, Peter Blaze Corcoran and Arjen E.J. Wals, Eds., Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, 2004.
• Clugston, R. and P.B. Corcoran. “Teaching for the Environment in Higher Education: The Promise of the Earth Charter,” in R. Tchen and P. B. Corcoran (Eds.) Earth Ethics: Evolving Values for an Earth Community, Fall 2003.
• Calder, W. and R. Clugston, “International Efforts to Promote Higher Education for Sustainable Development,” in Planning for Higher Education, Journal of the Society for College and University Planning, Spring 2003.
• Clugston, R., and W. Calder. "Critical Dimensions of Sustainability in Higher Education," in W. Leal Filho (Ed.), Sustainability and University Life, New York, NY: Peter Lang Scientific Publishers, 1999.
• Clugston, R. "Transforming Higher Education to Care for Creation," in R. Peterson and D. Conroy (Eds.), Earth at Risk: Advancing the Environmental Dialogue Between Science and Religion, Prometheus Press, 1999.
• Clugston, R., and J. Hoyt. "Environment, Development and Moral Values," in C. J. Hamelink (Ed.), Ethics and Development: On Making Moral Choices in Development Co- operation, Kampen, Holland: Uitgeverij Kok, 1997.
• Clugston, R. "Sustainability and Rural Revitalization: Two Alternative Visions," in I. Audirac (Ed.), Rural Sustainable Development in America, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
• Clugston, R. "The Praxis of Institutional Greening," in D.T. Hessel (Ed.), Theology for Earth Community: A Field Guide, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.
• Clugston, R. "Higher Education's Ecological Mission," in Education for the Earth: The College Guide for Careers in the Environment, 2nd Ed., Princeton, NJ: Peterson's Guides, Inc., 1995.