Sustainability Committee

The Sustainability Committee is composed of students, faculty, and staff who work to implement greener institutional policies at Wellesley.

The functions of the Sustainability Committee are the following:

- Advise the President on policies, priorities, and significant issues relating to environmental sustainability at the College. 


- Develop policies and priorities regarding how environmental sustainability should be factored into College operations and decisions. 


- Gather opinions from the College community on issues related to environmental sustainability, including by conducting surveys as needed. 


- Serve as a consultative body regarding relevant college initiatives. 


- Work in conjunction with the Committee on Educational Research and Development (ERD) and the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy (CCAP) in supporting educational and curricular initiatives and share data regarding environmental sustainability with the college community. 


- Make recommendations to Academic Council about policies relating to environmental sustainability. 


 

In 2020-22, the Sustainability Committee created a series of webinars and resources to present recommended actions for the Wellesley community to take to reduce our carbon footprint in support of Wellesley's divestment from fossil fuels.

In 2021-22, the Sustainability Committee prepared a set of policy recommendations to reduce the College's utilization of paper and printed materials, including College publications, student printing, and faculty/staff use of xeroxed materials.

Sustainability Lists

Sustainability Committee members

  • President or designee: Dave Chakraborty
  • Vice President for Finance and Administration: Piper Orton 
  • Dean of Students or designee: TBD
  • Chief Information Officer or designee: Katie Lamontagne
  • Director of Sustainability: TBD
  • Administrative Council representative: Rhonna Bollig 22-24
  • Union representatives: Sean Halloran
  • Students: Mel Daniels
  • Faculty:

Deb Bauer 22-25 (C)
Adrian Castro 21-24 (C)
Beth DeSombre 22-25 (B), Co-Chair
Thomas Nolden 20-23 (A), Co-Chair
Kyung Park 22-25 (B)
Marilyn Sides 20-23 (A)

 

Previous Sustainability Committee members who contributed to the plan

  • Ashley Funk, Class of 2016
  • Ben Hammond, VP for Finance & Administration
  • Jay Turner, (Former Chair) Environmental Studies Program
  • Jihelah Greenwald, Class of 2016
  • Julie Norem, Psychology Department
  • Katie McLean, Facilities and Planning
  • Kris Neindorf, Student Life
  • Marilyn Sides, English Department
  • Paul Mullins, Facilities
  • Patrick Willoughby, Director of Sustainability
  • Sandy Kendall, Office of Resources and Public Affairs
  • Sarah Joskins, Designee for the Chief Information Officer
  • Sarah Koenig, Student Representative
  • Seth Neumuller, Economics Department
  • Sharon Bort, Sustainability Coordinator
  • Sohie Lee, Computer Science Department
  • Roth von Schmidgall, Groundskeeper Specialist
  • Thomas Hodge, Russian Department
  • Yurij Pawluk, President's Office

 

Featured alums who have contributed to sustainability

  • Marjory Stoneman Douglas class of 1912 Protector of the Everglades
  • Betsy Barlow Rogers ’57 revitalization of Central Park, NY
  • Sue Bridge ’60 founder of Wildside (off-grid homestead) and current resident steward.
  • Eva Coifman Sommaripa ’63 pioneer in the organic and localvore movement, owner of "Eva's Garden," which grows more than 200 varieties of culinary herbs, specialty greens, and edible flowers; Alumnae Achievement Award winner (proud to be the first farmer to win the award)
  • Former Wellesley president Diana Chapman Walsh ’66 actively involved in raising awareness around global warming.
  • Wendy Paulson ’69 Ecology of Place Initiative
  • Claire Parkinson ’70 climatologist at NASA
  • Judith Moore ’71 Sr. Environmental Specialist, World Bank
  • Deborah Cramer ’73 environmental writer
  • Robin Chase ’80 a transportation entrepreneur. Co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, Buzzcar, a peer to peer car-sharing service in France (now merged with Drivy), GoLoco, an online ridesharing community, and Veniam, a vehicle communications company building the networking fabric for the Internet of Moving Things
  • Dorrie Pizzella ’80 urban agriculture, MA state government (in Patrick administration)
  • Maria Sevely ’84 an architect in New York. Maria’s work is included in the book Vertical City: Design for Sustainable Living
  • Rita Moran-Greiman ’85 Sustainability Hub at National Grid in Worcester, Mass., a learning space established in collaboration with Clark University and WPI to promote sustainable practices, energy efficiency, and smart energy solutions.
  • Anne Cody ’85 sustainable urban agriculture
  • Susan Murcott DS ’90 professor at MIT, focusing on water resources
  • Alethia Mariotta ’94 Corporate litigator turned organic herb farmer
  • Katherine Collins '90 author, founder of Honeybee Capital
  • Rachel Greenberger ’00 Director of FoodSol (food solutions) at Babson
  • Becky Owens ’03 graduated with an M.B.A. in sustainability from Antioch University New England. Becky relocated to Montana over the summer, where she is now working for Yellowstone National Park as the sustainability program manager for Xanterra Parks and Resorts.
  • Marisol Trowbridge ’05 sustainable fashion
  • Emily Rosenberg ’07 Environmental Scientist, Green MBA candidate
  • Noelle Fogg ’09 New Entry Sustainable Farming Project/Hutchins Farm - Concord MA
  • Catlin Powers ’09 Invented a cookstove as an undergrad, now is head of an environmental company.
  • Hoi-Fei Mok ’10 Recently received her PhD in environmental science from University of Melbourne’s School of Land and Environment. Her research focused on the feasibility of wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation. Before graduate school, she spent time doing field work in the highlands of Tibet. She was a research intern at Food First, an institution for food and development policy.
  • Carrie Scanlon ’10 works at the Rainforest Alliance on sustainable agriculture.
  • Laura Stevens ’11 a grad student in geophysics at MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program, studying glaciers.
  • Genea Foster ’12 on Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) board
  • Carly Gayle ’13 sustainable livelihoods in Indonesia
  • Yuting Guo ’13 organic food in China
  • Eliana Blaine ’13 Save That Stuff

 

Contact: Sustainability Committee Co-chairs 2022-23: Prof. Beth DeSombre and Prof. Thomas Nolden | edesombr@wellesley.edu, tnolden@wellesley.edu