After 10 years of exceptional service to the CoWC and the Colorado water community, MaryLou is retiring from CSU on June 30. MaryLou has served as a policy and collaboration specialist, designing and facilitating group processes for stakeholders working through complex water policy issues throughout Colorado and the West.

Her efforts include the formation and leadership of the Poudre Runs Through It Study/Action Work Group (PRTI) and Water Literate Leaders of Northern Colorado. Much of her work has centered on agricultural/urban/environmental water sharing strategies, groundwater/surface water conjunctive use challenges, and the integration of land use policy with water supply policy. To plant a seed to increase the ethnic diversity of voices in Colorado water policy decision making, MaryLou launched CSU Water Sustainability Fellows in which CSU students of color learn about water issues and share that information with similar students in North Denver communities through a National West Center Youth Water Project. MaryLou previously served 35 years as the vice president and co-founder of Aqua Engineering, Inc., an irrigation engineering firm with projects worldwide. MaryLou grew up on a cotton and alfalfa farm irrigated with groundwater in eastern New Mexico. She earned a master’s degree in educational psychology from New Mexico State University. She also served twelve years on the City of Fort Collins Water Board and has given presentations on her work in places as diverse as Tehran, Iran; Fortaleza, Brazil; and Wray, Colorado.