Office Elevated to Strengthen UNH's Commitment to Sustainability
July 25, 2007
Founding Director Named Chief Sustainability Officer
President Mark Huddleston announced today the elevation of the University
Office of Sustainability (UOS) to strengthen its across-campus mission
and reflect its leadership role in continuing the university’s
national visibility in sustainability.
Along with its move to the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice
President, the office’s founding director, Tom Kelly, will assume
the role of Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) for the university.
“Sustainability is now recognized as one of UNH’s core identities
and strengths with faculty, staff, and students from many disciplines
working together in new and innovative ways to advance a common goal,” said
Huddleston. “The role of the chief sustainability officer is to
help ensure that we are considering every strategic opportunity to unite
the spirit of discovery with the challenge of sustainability across our
land, sea and space grant mission.”
The longest-standing endowed sustainability program at an institution
of higher education in the country, the newly named University Office
of Sustainability’s mission is to unite the UNH community in advancing
the university as a nationally recognized sustainable learning community
that integrates sustainability across its curriculum, operations, research
and engagement through four broad initiatives in biodiversity and ecosystems;
climate and energy; food, agriculture, and nutrition; and culture and
sustainability.
“Sustainability at UNH began with the grassroots leadership of
faculty, students, and staff, which lead to the establishment of the
Office of Sustainability as an endowed, university-wide program in 1997,” noted
Tom Kelly. “UNH has always recognized higher education’s
unique role in promoting sustainability: as large educational and research
communities, universities exert significant ecological, economic, and
cultural force in their immediate region and extended surroundings and
into future generations. And we will continue to build on our past decade
of collaborative work in order to transform the unprecedented challenges
we face today into opportunities.”
From reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases to research in organic
dairy farming, composting to courses on climate and public health, UNH
is at the forefront of fostering health, integrity, and sustainability.
Discover more about the UOS at sustainableunh.unh.edu.
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