Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam

Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam is an American conservationist. She is the founder of the Student Conservation Association.
Early life and education.
Putnam completed her graduation from Miss Porter's School in 1952 and from Vassar in 1955.
Founding SCA.
She was a student at Vassar College in the 1950s. Putnam admired the natural heritage of America's national parks. However, she worried that limited financial resources would prevent proper maintenance of the beautiful parklands.
In 1955, Putnam wrote her senior thesis at Vassar College, "A Proposed Student Conservation Corps". The idea modeled after the federal Civilian Conservation Corps program (1933–42). It was to take the burden of labor-intensive jobs such as entrance fee collecting or trail work from the National Park Service. Another example is the shift to the proposed SCC.
Career.
She founded the Student Conservation Association in 1957. Putnam served as its President until her retirement in 1990.
She currently lives in Shaftsbury, Vermont.