Sustainability

As co-chair of a “Green Visibility” University Relations committee, I co-authored a strategic plan and developed a budget and a creative brief that convinced the chancellor to allocate a new budget line of $400,000 for a new position of Sustainability Communications Manager, new branding and a campus-wide launch. 

I co-authored the creative brief that formed the basis of the RFP for purchasing outside creative to develop the look and feel of the campaign.

I created a brochure highlighting sustainability accomplishments on campus that was so compelling that the Chancellor presented it to the state legislature and the Board of Trustees.

I resurrected a half-finished and technically compromised sustainability website for the Facilities unit that had been rejected by the University Relations Web Group. I developed messaging and information architecture, successfully lobbied for funding, and oversaw the significant technical development needed to complete the project. Sustainable UMass is the end result. 

I enlisted a faculty member to capture data from across campus and submit it to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System ™ (STARS), a prestigious national sustainability rating assessment. UMass Amherst was ranked Gold (the highest option at that time) and placed among the top ten research universities in the nation. 

Following the STARS ranking, UMass Amherst has been recognized nationally for its sustainability leadership, and is listed in the top 20 Sierra Magazine Coolest Schools and Princeton Review’s Top 50 Green Schools. 

I worked with the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and the Director of Admissions to take advantage of this national recognition to develop and execute recruitment strategies focused on sustainability-related interests, and added sustainability messaging to the campus tour script.

I brought together a wide coalition of people engaged in sustainability efforts to develop a launch plan that would involve and engage the entire campus. 

I served as a rare staff co-chair on four faculty committees working on cross-campus faculty development, research and education efforts around sustainability, ensuring that each program was inclusive, interdisciplinary, and effective.