Swarthmore College
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

The purpose of the Sustainability Committee (SusCom) of Swarthmore College is to make recommendations to the President and to the College community regarding policies to promote environmental sustainability on campus. The Committee focuses on identifying policies and practices that promote the most efficient and responsible use of College resources; monitoring funds and grants pertaining to environmental sustainability; and coordinating and support campus sustainability initiatives and efforts.

As of the 2022-23 academic year, the Sustainability Committee includes the following members:
- Elizabeth Drake, Director of Sustainability (chair)
- Clare Hyre, Associate Director of Sustainabiity
- Chris Graves, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Chair of Environmental Studies
- Alex Sastre, Associate Director of Campus Communications
- Katie Price, Senior Associate Director, Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility
- Andrew Feick, Associate Vice President for Sustainable Facilities Operations & Capital Planning
- Daniela Kim, student
- Tyrone Dunston, Director, Environmental Services
- Mikaela Prestowitz, student

Swarthmore College has a long history of honoring the natural environment and working to protect both it and the people who depend on it. Our ongoing environmental sustainability work builds proudly on our Quaker legacy of shared responsibility, social justice, and resource stewardship. We strive to model sustainable practices and foster collaboration, build capacity, and create pathways for students, staff, and faculty to learn about sustainability and advance solutions. The mission of the Office of Sustainability is to support and inspire the College community to integrate sustainability into all aspects of campus life: teaching, learning, operations, and culture.

The Office of Sustainability and campus partners have made incredible strides in many domains over the past several years. Work has occurred in areas such as: zero waste (e.g., setting diversion goals; making compost bins available in every campus hallway), carbon pricing (e.g., refining the departmental levy & construction shadow price), decarbonization (e.g., developing a robust energy plan to meet our 2035 carbon neutrality target; building new capital projects to meet the standards of our 2015 Environmental Sustainability Framework), food systems (e.g., developing targets for reusable & compostable materials, as well as local food procurement), campus grounds & forest (e.g., implementing a Crum Woods Restoration & Stewardship Plan), transportation (e.g., improving campus shuttles; assessing the campus vehicle fleet to move toward EVs), academics (e.g., transitioning from having only an Environmental Studies minor to having a major!), and regional policy (e.g., participating in regional conferences, partnerships, and activism). See our topic areas here: https://www.swarthmore.edu/sustainability/topics

Leading the college’s sustainability efforts, the Director will envision, lead, and implement the college's sustainability policies and programs to mitigate the college’s environmental impact and to build awareness of the connection between sustainability and issues of social justice. This includes establishing Swarthmore as a recognized leader in integrating sustainability into all aspects of the College’s mission, including teaching and learning, operations and culture. The Director of Sustainability will be charged with leading the many distinct sustainability efforts on campus and fostering a collaborative culture among students, faculty and staff.

Essential responsibilities include: Serving as a central resource and spokesperson for sustainability activities on campus; Leading campus-wide sustainability programs while collaborating and communicating effectively with the academic and scholarly research work of the faculty, campus operations, and student sustainability activities; Identifying and prioritizing areas for institutional sustainability efforts, including developing a plan to incorporate long- and short-term objectives in collaboration with and leadership of the Sustainability Committee; Managing the day-to-day activities of the Office of Sustainability including budget management of existing sustainability programs on campus, including but not limited to the President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship program, Green Advisors & Sustainability Advocates, capital projects (including the Roadmap to Zero Carbon), and the Carbon Charge Program; Engaging institutional leaders to successfully cultivate sustainability broadly across campus units; Consulting and collaborating with the Provost and faculty to assist in integrating sustainability into the curriculum; Collaborating with the Vice President of Advancement on opportunities to support campus-wide sustainability initiatives; Chairing the Sustainability Committee and overseeing other Ecosphere working groups; Collaborating with the Associate Vice President for Sustainable Facilities Operations and Capital Planning to infuse sustainability principles into new construction, renovations, standards, plans, and studies; and integrate sustainability into energy management, operations, maintenance, grounds-keeping, solid waste removal, and cleaning practices; Supporting partnerships with neighboring communities around issues of sustainability; Developing and maintaining collaborative relationships with national and global sustainability organizations

The Associate Director in the Office of Sustainability directs the following sustainability initiatives: the residential Green Advisors, including their role in New Student Orientation; the Sustainability Advocates for staff & faculty offices and their associated projects with student Green Advisors; community education and event planning for the annual UN climate conference delegation and/or other engaged scholarship activities in collaboration with Environmental Studies and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility; and design and implementation of the Zero Waste Plan. The Associate Director convenes the Zero Waste Working Group and leads budgeting for and installation of campus waste stations, oversees the campus-wide compost system and the Worthmore Free Store and move-out donation process, supervises waste consultants, and designs and leads presentation of reduction and diversion educational strategies. The Associate Director also takes a leadership role with campus food growing efforts and assists with the practicum research of Environmental Studies applied learning courses. In conjunction with the Director of Sustainability, the Associate Director assists with supervision of the Sustainability and Engaged Scholarship Fellows or other staff positions that develop in the office, supervises paid student interns (usually 3-8 annually), and manages consultants for a variety of projects. The Associate Director manages the day-to-day functioning of the Office of Sustainability and is the primary organizer for the campuswide sustainability events, mentors students in the President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship program, co-chairs the Sustainability Committee, convenes the Food Systems Working Group, represents the College at regional and national sustainability conferences, and serves as a liaison between the College and community groups. The Associate Director proposes new initiatives, particularly related to food system resilience, to advance the College’s sustainability goals.

This position will report to the Director of Sustainability and under general supervision will lead climate protection activities across the institution and in partnership with other organizations. This includes managing the College’s award winning Carbon Charge program, leading projects to increase renewable energy and decrease carbon emissions associated with the College, developing strategies to address greenhouse gas emissions, and overseeing outreach and engagement efforts with the campus community and other groups. The climate action manager will work with the Director of Sustainability, the Associate Vice President for Sustainable Facilities Operation and Capital Planning, ITS, Maintenance, Capital Planning, Finance staff and other key stakeholders to support implementation of the Roadmap to Zero Carbon, the College’s Energy Plan that charts the path to eliminating Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions in support of the College’s 2035 carbon neutrality commitment. The position will also lead efforts to develop a Scope 3 emissions reduction strategy and will manage projects to reduce campus carbon emissions. Such projects may include improving campus metering, measuring and reducing air travel, exploring low-carbon commuting options, and being part of sustainable construction projects. This position will manage the Carbon Charge Program, which was established in 2016 to incentivize emissions reductions, engage the community, fund sustainability work, and build momentum for climate solutions. The Carbon Charge levies a fee on departments and offices for campus emissions that provides more than $300,000 annually for greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects. The program also includes a shadow price on carbon that is integrated into cost benefit analysis for capital planning decisions. This position will lead the Carbon Charge Committee in ongoing management and improvement of the program and will collaborate with other institutions to share the model more widely. This position also plays a strategic leadership role in outreach, education, research, and projects to help Swarthmore respond to the urgency of climate change in teaching, learning, operations, and community engagement. The position oversees communication efforts for the Office of Sustainability, including social media and other campus communication efforts. The climate action manager will also support the College’s annual delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) and related campus engagement efforts.

Information about initiatives and commitments of the Office of Sustainability can be found here: https://www.swarthmore.edu/sustainability/our-ecosphere