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Q & A with Brian Webb, Director of Sustainability

This fall, Brian Webb, ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú™s first director of sustainability, has quickly established regular communications with the College community encouraging them to think about their own impact on the environment and the little things they can do first. In The President™s Annual Report 2022-23 fall edition of ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú magazine, readers learned about the support from alumni donors that help make his work possible. Here he shares more about his excitement for his work at ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú and his goals for the campus.

Q: Why is it important for ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú to make a commitment to sustainability?

Webb: Some of the biggest problems facing our world today are environmental challenges, climate change, and biodiversity loss. College students today feel these deeply and addressing them is particularly important to them. As institutions of higher ed, we pride ourselves in being leaders in all kinds of ways, in education, in research, so we ought to also be leaders in one of the greatest challenges that humanity is facing right now. ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú has the capacity to be a great leader in this area, and that excites me about doing the work.

Q: What are some first steps as you think about enhancing sustainability at the College and building a sustainability action plan?

Webb: First, sustainability work is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a full team approach. I™m building relationships and connections across ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú™s campus to partner with departments, clubs, and offices to create a culture that embraces sustainability. Next, we need to make substantive steps toward carbon neutrality by pursuing opportunities such as solar expansion, transition to geothermal heating and cooling, lighting retrofits, electrification of fleet vehicles, etc. These efforts should also be tied to our commitment to equity and justice by recognizing that those most directly impacted by climate change are not the ones primarily causing the problem. Finally, I want to engage and empower students to make a change in society. Students regularly underestimate the impact they can make. I want to see ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú students leading the way on sustainability.

Q: What makes ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú an exciting place to do this work?

Webb: The focus for students at ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú on intellectual inquiry with I.S. empowers students to engage deeply in thought and research around important topics. It provides unique opportunities for ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú to lead, not just from me doing the work, but to include students in the process, so they get a learning experience. They can be better prepared in their job fields. Other departments on campus as well are invested and interested because they see the benefits.

Posted in Magazine on November 16, 2023.