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Webinar: COVID-19 & Sustainability Discussion: Recap & Reflection [External Event]

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During the month of April, AASHE will be leading a discussion series for our community to engage with one another to talk through opportunities and challenges related to COVID-19 and sustainability. These group discussions, facilitated by AASHE’s Executive Director, Meghan Fay Zahniser, will be guided by these questions:

  • How are you continuing to make progress during this challenging time?

  • What additional resources have been helpful to you?

  • How are we serving our institutions and demonstrating value in this moment?

  • How do we plan and prepare for what comes next?

This webinar will provide a recap of this discussion series as well as reflections on moving forward.

Register Here

Presenters

Meghan Fay Zahniser, Executive Director, AASHE

Meghan has been with AASHE since 2011 and previously held the positions of Director of Programs and STARS Program Manager. Prior to AASHE, Meghan worked as Sustainability Specialist at NELSON, where she provided sustainability expertise and consulting services to various clients. She also spent over five years working at the U.S. Green Building Council where, as Manager of Community, she developed and managed a local chapter network for building industry professionals and helped create the Emerging Green Builders program that integrates students and young professionals into the green building movement.

Mike Harrington, Assistant Director, Tishman Environment And Design Center, New School 

Mike Harrington is responsible for supporting the work of the Tishman Center by liaising with offices and departments throughout the university and implementing projects that advance The New School’s commitment to sustainability and environmental justice. Before joining the TEDC team, He worked at Elevate Energy, organizing around creating equity in the energy efficiency market; served as the chair of another environmental non-profit, the Delta Institute; and has helped manage an organic food bank garden for people with compromised immune systems. He obtained his Master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management from The New School and has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in Psychology, with a specialization in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Mike is a member of the AASHE STARS Steering Committee.

Aurora Winslade, Director of Sustainability, Swarthmore College

Aurora has nearly twenty years of experience in higher education and private sector sustainability and energy efficiency work. She has served as the Director of Sustainability for Swarthmore College since 2015, where she has co-led the development of the Roadmap to Zero: Energy Master Plan, co-founded and teaches in the President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship program, and strives to ground the Office of Sustainability’s work in understanding the intersections of equity, justice, and ecological sustainability. She is an adjunct faculty member at Bard College’s Sustainable MBA program, where she teaches Leading Change in Organizations. Aurora previously founded new sustainability programs at the University of California Santa Cruz and the University of Hawaii. She also worked for Leidos Engineering as the Market Transformation Manager for Hawaii Energy, the state’s energy efficiency program and worked with MA’O Organic Farms and the University of Hawaii West Oʻahu to launch a B.A. program in Sustainable Community Food Systems.

Stephania Fregosi, Sustainability Coordinator, Chemeketa Community College

Stephania Fregosi has been the Sustainability Coordinator at Chemeketa Community College since 2012. She recently completed the college’s first Environmental Stewardship Plan as well as first Chemeketa’s Carbon Action Plan. Her responsibilities include promoting Chemeketa’s sustainability initiatives through outreach to students in partnership with College Life and Student Retention as well as sustainability planning, monitoring and assessment. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and a Masters of Studies in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School. Stephania serves on the AASHE Advisory Council.

Ciannat Howett, Associate Vice President, Resilience, Sustainability, and Economic Inclusion, Emory University

Ciannat became Emory’s first Director of Sustainability Initiatives in September 2006, managing an enterprise-wide effort to ensure that Emory’s actions and policies support environmental, social, and economic systems that provide a healthy, productive, and meaningful life for current and future generations.  She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health and Emory College’s Environmental Sciences Department. Ciannat attended Emory University as an undergraduate, receiving her B.A. in 1987 and also later received a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Srinivasan (Raghu) Raghavan, Sustainability Manager, University of Missouri

Raghu has been the sustainability manager at the University of Missouri since 2015. He provides strategic direction to and manages a campus-wide sustainability program and teaches an honors course on sustainable development. His office is the coordinating hub for campus operations, academics, planning, athletics, and student sustainability activities. Raghu has been working towards transforming the campus as a learning lab by collaborating with faculty to provide applied learning and research opportunities for students through capstone projects, internships and volunteer opportunities. He serves on the AASHE Board of Directors and Advisory Council, the board of Pednet, City of Columbia’s Climate and Environment Commission and previously served on the Mayor’s Climate and Adaptation Task Force. Raghu has extensive experience in higher education sustainability, energy conservation and information technology. He has graduate degrees in Environmental Engineering (New Mexico State University), Business and Information Management (both from Marymount University).