UNH
recognizing the innovative work of faculty, staff, students and alumni
Champions
of our collective commitment to human dignity for all people and ecological integrity in all places
Impact
driven and informed by the needs and challenges in the community/world
Awardees were nominated in four categories:
- Research and Scholarship
- Curriculum Development and Teaching
- Campus Operations, Initiatives and Culture
- External Engagement
The Awards Committee and judges determined four levels of awards:
- Platinum: demonstrates exemplary work
- Gold: demonstrates outstanding work
- Silver: demonstrates excellent work
- Bronze: demonstrates emergent or promising work
Learn more about the Awards program.
All awardees qualified to be considered for funding to extend the work of their project, research, or curriculum development thanks to the generous support of the Responsible Governance and Sustainable Citizenship Project/College of Liberal Arts.
Congratulations to the 2021 Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awardees!
2021 Nominations are closed.
The May 7 Awards Recognition Celebration was held virtually this year and was recorded. Please check back soon for a link to the recorded event.
PLEASE NOTE: Students who participated in the Virtual Undergraduate Research Conference in the NEW University-wide Undergraduate Sustainability Research Symposium event were considered for the UNH Sustainability Awards.
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Renee Heath, COLA, Jennifer Borda, COLA,
Lydia Reinig, COLA
The UNH Civil Discourse Lab champions diversity, equity, and dignity for all in troubled political times with tools for productive civil engagement, giving students and community members the tools to conduct constructive conversations around important social issues.
Cowasuck Band of the
Pennacook Abenaki People
External Engagement
Paul W. Pouliot, Sag8mo
Denise K. Pouliot, Sag8mosquaw
The Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People has been integral to raising awareness of Indigenous heritage at UNH and across the State of NH and was instrumental to the establishment of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Minor at UNH, and continue to be actively engaged at UNH and with local communities. They are an integral part of the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective (INHCC), a large part of which consists of UNH faculty, staff, students, and community partners.
Carsey School, Center on Impact Finance
External Engagement
Michael Swack, Director
The Carsey School Center on Impact Finance is a national leader in enhancing the availability, and use of, financial services, including capital investment, in low-income communities in the United States—including projects driving investment in these communities in solar power, public health, community development, small and women- and minority-owned businesses, poverty alleviation, and other important objectives.
External Engagement
Accelerated Masters in Public Policy,
Music Performance, COLA
Juliana has spent their undergraduate and graduate years at UNH dedicated to the service of others through a range of involvements on and off-campus and expanding access to and inclusivity of education. As one example, Juliana worked for an organization that addressed the lack of diversity in the nation’s teaching faculties by recruiting outstanding students of color and other scholars committed to diversity, counseling them through the graduate school application process, and advocating for sufficient funding for advanced study.
External Engagement
Michele Holt-Shannon, Carsey
Bruce Mallory, Carsey
Andres Mejia Jr, Carsey
Carrie Portrie, Carsey
In May 2020, New Hampshire Listens reached a milestone: a decade of work helping New Hampshire residents talk to each other about controversial public issues to create communities that work for everyone. Over the years, New Hampshire Listens assisted towns, schools, police departments, and community organizations focused on public life. They have facilitated projects in all sectors, addressing a variety of topics – mental health, water sustainability, government efficiency, lead poisoning, community-police relationships, and more.
External Engagement
Master in Community Development, Carsey
Matthew is the executive director of an organization that ensures that grassroots leaders of color can effectively organize to address threats to civil liberties while also working to end discriminatory policies and practices that limit access to political, economic, and environmental justice. His capstone project aimed to identify and address the policies and practices that have impacted men of color from being able to attain/maintain housing because of mass incarceration, inequitable wages, and prejudiced policies/practices.
Doug Bencks
Campus Operations, Initiatives and Culture
University Architect & Director of Campus Planning
Doug has worked for the last 25 years collaboratively and creatively to integrate sustainability into the planning and execution of building design and construction, land use, and campus aesthetics. For example, Doug worked with the Sustainability Institute, Campus Planning, and the NH Society of Architects to develop a sustainable renovation in Nesmith Hall to house the Institute - the beginning of a long collaboration encompassing the development of sustainable building design and construction guidelines and practices, and LEAD Gold and Platinum renovation and new construction projects. Doug's deep commitment to the aesthetics of UNH's beautiful campus has always been at the center of his practice.
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
The professional and student staff (RAs, CAs and Assistant Hall Directors) have collectively demonstrated creativity, compassion and dedication to the emotional and physical health of on-campus students’ during the COVID pandemic.
Hospitality Services
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Bill McNamara, Executive Director, Hospitality Services
David Hill, Director of Dining Hall Operations
Rochelle L’Italien, Registered Dietician/Nutritionist
Under Bill's leadership UNH has deepened its already impressive commitment to sustainability in Dining and Hospitality, including ongoing work to advance health and wellness, sustainable food sourcing, zero waste efforts, going "strawless" and a pilot program for reusable takeout containers in the Dairy Bar. Rochelle has been an integral contributor and leader in numerous initiatives to support student health and well-being and to equip and empower students to live more sustainably, including the "Take Less, Waste Less Campaign". David's efforts have helped make UNH a leader in sustainable dining, including wider availability of vegetarian/vegan options, collaboration on the UNH 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge, reducing food insecurity at UNH with Swipe it Forward.
Rick MacDonald
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Director of Business Affairs
Rick has been an exceptionally strong and effective champion of sustainability through his work in dining, business affairs, as well as on multiple task forces. Rick fully supported and collaborated on developing an analysis of UNH’s food procurement patterns and strategies for increasing procurement of local and regional food products to positively impact the state and region’s agriculture, fisheries, and other food enterprises.
Shoals Marine Laboratory
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Shoals Marine Laboratory's Sustainability Engineering Internship program provides engineering students a hands-on experience addressing the challenges that are inherently part of Appledore Island's operations - to maintain its own green energy grid, drinking water system, and wastewater management system. Managed by a team of engineers who have worked to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the island community, the training provided is helping to prepare the next generation of engineers for opportunities in the renewable energy sector.
John Aber
Research & Scholarship
Natural Resources & the Environment, COLSA
John has played a key role as both faculty member and administrator in advancing UNH leadership in sustainability over the past two-plus decades, including supporting the establishment of the UNH Energy Task Force, which developed a comprehensive approach to energy and carbon accounting that led to WildCAP, the UNH Climate Action Plan. John embraced efforts to advance an agroecological approach to building our capacity in sustainable food systems and led a long-term study at the Organic Dairy Research Farm. He was lead editor of a book about the first 10 years of our sustainability effort: The Sustainable Learning Community: One University's Journey to the Future, with more than 60 UNH faculty and staff contributing. As Provost from 2009-2013, John supported the development of a dual major in Sustainability and many other advances, leaving a lasting legacy of impact and benefit to the UNH community.
Larry Hamilton
Research & Scholarship
Sociology, COLA
With over four decades of highly impactful scholarship on issues related to sustainability, Larry has considered the reciprocal effects of environmental changes, social and societal shifts, and resource availability. For example, he has investigated how climate change, public policy and regulation, and over-fishing have shaped the vitality of fishing communities; he has examined the changing nature of New Hampshire skiing, and has studied how changes in resources and the environment affect community demographics, including migration patterns, birth rates, and shifts in community gender balance.
Nick Pollak
Research & Scholarship
Ph.D. candidate, CEPS
Nick's Ph.D. research has focused on addressing the impacts of climate change in developing new materials for solar driven photocatalytic generation of liquid fuels using carbon dioxide as a feedstock. Nick has shown strong leadership within the research group and among his peers. He leads by example, participating in STEMbassadors the past few years, helping inspire the next generation of young scientists to embrace sustainable science endeavors.
Charles Wilson
Research & Scholarship
Ph.D. candidate, CEPS
Charles’ Ph.D. research focused on addressing the impacts of climate change in coral reef populations and supported conservation efforts to rebuild reef populations, combining chemistry knowledge with passion for environmentalism to develop an out-of-the-box idea to create a new material that can act as a sunscreen for coral reefs. The project will require an interdisciplinary and collaborative effort and has the potential to be transformative for coastal communities in the Caribbean and around the world.
Cassidy Yates
Research & Scholarship
Master of Science in Civil & Environmental Engineering, CEPS, Sustainability
As an undergrad, Cassidy spearheaded efforts to expand composting across campus, took advantage of Changemaker Collaborative programs, and as a Sustainability Fellow, supported the town of Lebanon, NH in completing a greenhouse gas inventory. As a graduate Environmental Engineering student, Cassidy is working on issues of water quality and toxics that have huge implications for communities. She remains fully committed to sustainability at UNH as an intern and plays an integral role in the greenhouse gas accounting for UNH and other schools.
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Rob Swift, CEPS, Larry Harris, COLSA,
Elizabeth Fairchild, COLSA
Ocean Projects is a cross-college senior capstone course that has been taught at UNH for nearly 50 years. Since its inception, the goal of the course has been to provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary student teams to address the sustainable utilization of our ocean resources. As one of the most enduring sustainability activities at UNH, it has provided opportunities for more than 500 hundred students to apply and develop their engineering and scientific skills to address problems of important societal relevance.
Andrew Ogden
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, COLSA
Andrew spearheaded and developed curriculum for the first hands-on, experiential farming courses in the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems major. He has brought his extensive knowledge of tropical horticulture to UNH students through the Taste of the Tropics course, as well as taking students to Costa Rica for a J-Term course exploring Sustainable Agriculture in the tropics. Andrew has forged a strong connection with a university in Peru to facilitate the exchange of knowledge. Through his Ph.D. work with the late Dr. Brent Loy, Andrew spent several years working on his cucurbit breeding program.
Dan Winans
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Dual Major in EcoGastronomy, PAUL
Dan has been the Director of the Dual Major in EcoGastronomy since it was founded and introduces students to an interdisciplinary way of seeing the food system. He hosts guest speakers from across campus and beyond to share their work in nutrition, health, culinary arts, agriculture and fisheries, and sustainability. The dual major capstone course involves students directly in research and projects that are tied to real-world issues. His students have started a Durham Farmers Market in the MUB, and have gone on to work in innovative positions in their careers.
External Engagement
The Museum of Art has emboldened students to advance their critical-thinking and visual literacy skills through personal interactions with the power of visual art with an emphasis on cultural sustainability. Collaborations with on-campus and off-campus constituents utilize inquiry-based learning to explore thematic sustainability issues.
External Engagement
Quixada Moore-Vissing, Carsey
Bruce Mallory, Carsey
Carrie Portrie, Carsey
Jordan Hensley, Carsey
Courtney Wrigley, Carsey
Bruce and Quixada are the authors of the 2012 and the 2020 New Hampshire Civic Health Index, which provides information, elevates discussion, and provides a deeper understanding of the underlying facts on which critical public policy decisions are made. It gives guidance for future initiatives aimed at strengthening our civic health. For example, finding ways to bring people together across racial, ethnic, cultural, political, and social identities – at the individual as well as institutional and systemic levels.
External Engagement
Anthropology, Women's and Gender Studies, COLA
Dr. Peshkova unites a diverse and inclusive group of Indigenous leaders, UNH students, staff, faculty and community members to decolonize NH history. Svetlana is at the center of the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective (INHCC), an initiative that she began with local Abenaki leaders and a single student intern in the spring semester of 2017.
Sharyn Potter
External Engagement
Women's and Gender Studies, COLA,
Executive Director, Prevention Innovations
Research Center
A leader and mentor to the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program, Sharyn’s service activities are plentiful and her scholarship is even more impressive, including her work with the Prevention Innovations Research Center. Her work continues to be cited not only in the state and country but internationally as well. In addition to her research around domestic violence and sexual assault, she inspires and empowers students to become active bystanders and citizens who foster communities free of such violence.
External Engagement
Executive Director of Practice,
Preventions Innovation Research Center
Jane has had an incredible 30+ year history of sexual and relationship violence prevention. For example, she provides training and technical assistance to higher education institutions and high schools in the U.S. and Canada on how to create, evaluate and sustain comprehensive sexual and relationship violence and stalking prevention and response strategies. She also is the Lead Developer and Evaluator of Know-Your-Power Bystander Social Marketing Campaign and coordinates the National Campus Sexual and Relationship Violence and Stalking Prevention Consortium and one of the founders of the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program at UNH, only the second rape crisis center on a college campus in the United States.
Yyokkia Lawson
External Engagement
Master in Community Development, Carsey
Yyokkia has been committed to ending poverty and reducing inequalities through research and program development. For example, she launched a nonprofit which focuses on stabilizing low-and very low-income rural Black residents and piloted a Housing Counseling Training Program, a collaborative effort that brings together multiple stakeholders including community leaders, banks, mortgage companies, real estate professionals, and a regional Community Based Development Organization.
Sue Bennett
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Director of Administration, Facilities Management
Sue has been a collaborative “zero waste” champion at UNH and a long-term contributor to the Energy Task Force and Zero Waste Task Force, working to make single stream recycling more successful, in part through her role managing UNH's contracts with Waste Management and Housekeeping. She has supported and mentored students doing research to assess and develop recommendations to improve UNH's waste reduction and diversion programs.
David Clark
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Space Utilization Specialist,
Asset Management & Campus Planning
David has supported student sustainability leadership and helped reduce UNH's waste footprint as a key partner for the UNH Trash to Treasure (T2T) program. He has consistently supported students in gaining an understanding of UNH's materials management systems and in identifying opportunities for transformational improvement. He is currently leading a collaboration with Housing, Grounds and Events and the Sustainability Institute to explore opportunities to make donations of UNH surplus materials, which can be put to good use by charitable organizations, a standard operating procedure.
Saffron Duffy
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Junior, Health Management & Policy, CHHS
Throughout her undergraduate career, Saffron has served on the Student Organization for Health Leadership, representing the organization at the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives 2018 Event. Additionally, she became a Changemaker Coach, serving as a peer mentor and role model for UNH students. She participated in the Semester in the City program in Boston, where she interned at Victory Programs, a non-profit organization focused on helping individuals with chronic illnesses who may also struggle with substance abuse and homelessness.
Erik Gross
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior Executive Director, University Advancement,
Treasurer, UNH Foundation
Erik has played a pivotal role in allowing UNH to align its investment practices with principles of sustainability; UNH has moved over 30% of the assets in the UNH endowment into ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) qualified investments. In his role as Treasurer of the UNH Foundation, Erik has led the UNH Committee on Investor Responsibility (made up of a diverse group of UNH faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members) and has worked closely with the UNH Foundation Board's Investment & Finance Committee, as well as UNH leadership.
Peter Kane
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Horticulture Production Coordinator, COLSA
Peter is an integral part of COLSA's relationship with UNH Dining, and collaboratively, they are finding creative ways to use the produce grown on campus. Peter manages the production and shares his knowledge by training students to grow healthy food in sustainable ways. Peter helped spearhead the installation of micro-greens carts in the Dining Halls and has recently taken over as the staff/faculty coordinator for the organic garden club. The food production program and its connection to UNH Dining and the broader campus is one of, if not, the strongest in the nation. The closed-loop approach to growing and composting food is an environmentally friendly model, is highly innovative, and may serve as a template for other campuses.
Jean Mitchell
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Housekeeping Manager, Athletic Facilities
Jean has inspired student engagement with sustainability while making campus operations more sustainable. She has been instrumental in making WildCat Stadium Zero Waste stadium, has supported training and standard operating procedures for campus housekeepers to support zero waste and green cleaning goals, and mentored student and staff. An active member of the Zero Waste Task Force, Jean is a champion for diversity, inclusion, health and well-being, and community service.
Matt O'Keefe
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Utility Systems Manager, Energy & Utilities
Matt has contributed to an array of efforts to reduce the university's carbon and nitrogen footprint, reduce energy costs and make UNH's water supply more sustainable, including upgrades of campus infrastructure and diversification of our water supply with the Spruce Hole Aquifer Artificial Recharge System project. He has been a leader in shifting to more renewable power sources, including micro-hydro for our purchased electricity, the Northwest Biomass Heating Plant, and of course EcoLine. Matt has co-chaired the Watershed Protection Working Group of the Ecosystem Task Force and is a steward of UNH's climate action plan. Matt's commitment to sustainability and unstinting collaboration have helped make UNH a model for other campuses when it comes to innovative utilities management.
Stephen Pesci
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Special Projects Director, Campus Planning
For more than two decades, Steve has led the development of sustainable transportation policies and practices. Steve's work through the Transportation Policy Committee has been highly collaborative and engaged both on and beyond campus. Through his use of data, analysis, and collaborative community building, he has significantly impacted the UNH transportation system including the practice of Transportation Demand Management in goal setting and policy development, alternative fuels, public transit, rail service, and other infrastructure that has supported a walking campus. An active member of the Energy Task Force and an important contributor to UNH's Climate Action Plan (WildCAP), he has leveraged federal and state transportation programs to finance UNH's successful approach.
Semra Aytur
Research & Scholarship
Health Management & Policy, CHHS
Semra is an Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy and a member of the Sustainability Dual Major Academic Committee. Sustainability is a unifying theme connecting all her work in public health from local to global levels. She works collaboratively to build transdisciplinary, cross-sectoral teams at UNH and beyond to address grand challenges, including two COVID-19 Collaborative Research Excellence (CoRE) projects. Beyond this work, she served on the New Hampshire Ad Hoc Emissions Commission in 2020 and currently serves on the New Hampshire Board of the Conservation Law Foundation.
Szu-Feng Chen
Research & Scholarship
Theatre & Dance, COLA
Szu-Feng is a practitioner of sustainable design in theater, utilizing unconventional design elements, infusing designs with reused and repurposed materials, creating multipurpose scenery pieces, and reducing waste in the design executions. For example, in the UNH production of “Sila”, Szu-Feng created a world that blends both organic natural elements as well as artificial manmade objects, hinting at the drastic impact of humanity's choices on the natural world. The set design incorporated almost two thousand plastic bottles, of which 90 % was obtained from the UNH campus.
Jennifer Griffith
Research & Scholarship
Business Administration, PAUL
Jennifer advocates for gender equality and decent work and economic growth in her courses and through diversity, equity and inclusion service, understanding barriers to gender parity. Increasing gender equity in the workplace is the primary focus of her research, which is largely aided by the student-driven research lab Jennifer founded, Modern Work Lab, a student-driven research lab focused on addressing gender inequity in the workplace. Currently, six undergraduate students serve as Research Assistants on various interdisciplinary projects that blend together gender inequity, poor work environments, and declining career outcomes and trajectory.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Research & Scholarship
Physics, CEPS
Chanda's research focuses on theoretical work at the intersection of particle physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. She is interested in scalar dark matter candidates such as axions and axion-like particles, as well as neutron stars and inflationary cosmology. Her new book, Disordered Cosmos, "centers humanity within science, turning the methods of science on itself to ask questions about how science is done and who is doing it." A new professor to UNH, she is a leading physicist and one of fewer than 100 Black American women to earn a Ph.D. from a department of physics. She "urges us to recognize how science, like most fields, is rife with racism, sexism, and other dehumanizing systems."
Siobhan Senier
Research & Scholarship
English, COLA
Siobhan's new book, Sovereignty and Sustainability: Indigenous Literary Stewardship in New England, exemplifies interdisciplinary, publicly engaged Humanities research on cultural and ecological sustainability. For example, her work draws on Ecocriticism and the Environmental Humanities, Cultural Heritage management (or “cultural sustainability studies”), Sustainability Science, and the Digital Humanities, and is collaborative, working with Indigenous cultural heritage professionals, including tribal historians and museum curators.
Emily Whitmore
Research & Scholarship
Ph.D candidate, Sociology, COLA
Emily developed engaged research as a collaborator in the New England Sustainability Consortium (NEST). She investigated linked social-environmental challenges facing coastal communities and fishing communities in Maine in her Master's thesis, with a specific focus on community acceptance of aquaculture as a NOAA consultant.
Basic and Applied Spatial Analysis Lab (BASAL)
Research & Scholarship
The Basic and Applied Spatial Analysis Lab (BASAL) conducts collaborative and interdisciplinary research promoting the conservation and sustainability of our natural resources through the use of innovative geospatial technologies to solve real-world problems.
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Civil & Environmental Engineering, CEPS
Kyle actively works to bring a sustainability and resilience perspective to the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering through his courses and research. Identifying the importance of diverse groups of stakeholders and how they are shaping the field of infrastructure and community resilience, his teaching methods require students to ponder the purpose, goals, and systems that civil engineering serves communities to optimize and sustain them.
Melinda Negron-Gonzales
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Department of Security Studies, UNH Manchester,
Coordinator, Global Conflict & Human Security
Melinda is the Coordinator of an innovative new online master's degree, Global Conflict & Human Security is a combination of conflict studies and international development, centered around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It is designed to prepare students to solve the world’s most pressing problems with a career in humanitarian relief and global development. This is a cutting-edge program, unique in the country, and teaches research-based theory combined with powerful practical and professional skills for impact.
Stephen Pimpare
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Department of Business & Public Affairs, UNH Manchester
Stephen is a nationally recognized expert on poverty, homelessness, and U.S. social policy. Drawing on roots in political science, sociology, history and economics, this highly interdisciplinary public service and nonprofit leadership program explores the ways that leaders and citizens work in and around government and civic organization, and is designed to give students the diverse skills and experience to shape the world.
External Engagement
Sophomore, Psychology, COLA
Aubrey participated in PrOVES, an early arrival program for incoming students focused on community service. She has been dedicated to community service during her time at UNH. For example, she has been actively involved in the Waysmeet Center, volunteering regularly, helping in the food pantry, preparing community dinners, assisting with food rescue, and revitalizing the community garden. She has spent the past year running the Cornucopia Food Pantry, making sure that local families don't go hungry during the pandemic.
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Utility Systems Manager, Energy & Utilities
Dave is key part of UNH's sustainable energy efforts and engages and inspires others by championing the benefits of district energy and conservation. He manages the combined heat and power plant, powered by process landfill gas, that makes UNH a leader in greenhouse gas management and energy efficiency, and makes a continual effort to engage and inspire UNH students, as well as community members, using the UNH energy systems as a "living laboratory" for learning about district energy.
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior, Senior, Environmental Conservation
and Sustainability, COLSA
Elizabeth has interned with the Sustainability Institute, helping craft the Green Office Program and conducting sustainability outreach to students. She served first as the Vice President and then as the President of Net Impact which culminated in making UNH a Fair Trade Campus. Additionally, she participated in various organizations, including Girl Up, the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), and Xi Sigma Pi (XSP) Natural Resources Honor Society.
Caitlin Durnbaugh
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior, Human Development and Family
Studies, CHHS, Spanish, COLA
Caitlin is a member of the Black Student Union and Buddies Without Borders. Caitlin is an alumna of Semester in the City at Boston program, where she interned with 826 Boston, the Egleston Center, empowering traditionally underserved students ages 6-18 to find their voices, tell their stories, and gain communication skills to succeed in school and in life. Following this experience, she became a Lead Changemaker Coach, planning monthly curriculum and activities for the UNH Changemaker Fellowship program.
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior, Business Administration Major, PAUL,
Women's and Gender Studies, COLA
Erin made an impact during her time at UNH. For example, within the Paul College, she was a Peer Advisor for first-year students through the FIRE Program, a Dean's Ambassador, a Teaching Assistant for Business in Practice courses, and Tour Guide. Beyond this work, she volunteered for PROVES, Seacoast Reads, Alpha Phi Omega and served as Treasurer for Best Buddies. Through the Semester in the City Boston program, she interned for an organization that works to find affordable housing for low to moderate-income individuals. Through the Changemaker Collaborative, she participated in the B Impact Clinic and mentored peers as a Changemaker Coach.
Katilin Griffin
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Junior, Business Administration, PAUL, Sustainability
Kaitlin has been awarded both the Peter T. Paul Scholarship and the First-Year Innovation and Research Experience Luminary Award. She is an alumna of the Social Innovation Internship during which she interned with Berry Dunn to increase its clients' employee engagement. She has interned with National Grid in their Gas Business Planning and Performance Unit to improve efficiency in how they administer power to their clients. Finally, she became a Changemaker Coach and a Newman Civic Fellow at UNH.
Dwain Lozier
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Contract Manager, Facilities
Dwain has been a consistent and effective sustainability leader at UNH, including
providing guidance and logistical support for the student-run Trash 2 Treasure. He has worked quietly to donate/recycle hundreds of tons of furniture from UNH Housing to organizations that can put them to good use and developed systems to make such donations a standard operating procedure and is collaborating with Campus Planning and the Sustainability Institute to explore ways to institute those across UNH Facilities.
Jessica Manning
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior, Environmental Engineering, CEPS
Jessica is an advocate for sustainable practices at UNH and a dedicated scholar of sustainability through her Oil Spill Modeling for Improved Response to Arctic Maritime Spills research. She has exemplified extracurricular leadership, serving as an Outreach and Engagement intern, member, and secretary for the Hamel Scholars Green Team Task Force, which works together to better the community’s sustainability through leadership and service; a member and campaign coordinator for the Student Environmental Action Coalition, and leads Compost Cats.
Madison Roy
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Junior, Social Work, CHHS
Madison has made an impact both at and beyond UNH. During the Semester in the City Boston program, mentoring teens to become leaders during her internship. She served as an Office Assistant for the Wallingford Housing Authority and as an AmeriCorps VISTA at LifeBridge Community Services. At UNH, she was a Community Educator for the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program (SHARPP) and promoted social change as the Fundraising Chair in the Students of Social Work group, was a Peer Mentor and Dean’s Ambassador, representing the College of Health and Human Services.
Cheryl Smith
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Extension Professor, Plant Health Specialist
Cheryl dedicated significant time and expertise to reviewing and commenting on the new UNH Landscape Master Plan, with an enhanced focus on climate adaptation and resilience, and to critical updates to the campus Planning, Design and Construction Guidelines. She continues to serve as a member of the Botanical Management Working Group for the Ecosystem Task Force. In her work with Extension, she supports sustainability across the state of NH by training community members in Integrated Pest Management.
UNH Dietetic Internship Program
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
UNH Dietetic Interns are instrumental in helping minimize food waste in the dining halls. They have worked closely with the Dining team to collect and measure waste, create educational materials to help inform dining hall patrons on ways they can minimize food waste, and asses the impact of the campaigns.
Shawn Banker
Research & Scholarship
Director, University Instrument Center
Shawn has spearheaded significant and impactful energy efficiency efforts, developed and led a program that raises awareness among UNH researchers about more energy-efficient options for ultra-low temperature freezers - reducing campus energy consumption, saving thousands of dollars, and garnering attention nationally as a model for other campuses, through the Department of Energy's Smart Labs Accelerator program, of which Shawn has been an active contributor.
Shuili Du
Research & Scholarship
Business Administration, PAUL
Shuili is highly respected globally for her research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, CSR communication, sustainability reporting, and sustainable new product development. Her research examines whether and how CSR and sustainability initiatives create business value, such as, what factors influence the potential impact of CSR on customer loyalty and firm innovation capabilities, and to what extent CSR protects a firm in the face of a crisis.
Elizabeth Fairchild
Research & Scholarship
Biological Sciences, COLSA
Elizabeth's research program, The Fairchild Lab, focuses on bringing awareness to and demonstrating technology to make fish farming more sustainable. It currently works with the Atlantic salmon and steelhead trout aquaculture industries that rear fish in ocean cages in Maine and New Hampshire waters to mitigate naturally occurring parasitic sea lice infestations by utilizing lumpfish. The lab also works with the greater international aquaculture community to promote and transfer to technology and strives to improve lumpfish rearing protocols to increase cost-effective U.S. hatchery production.
Elizabeth Schwaner
Research & Scholarship
Master in Public Policy, Carsey
Elizabeth helped change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day in Exeter through research and reporting. She assisted with interviews with Indigenous people and local lawmakers into a policy brief detailing why and how Indigenous Peoples’ Day should be implemented.
Mingcheng Ren
Research & Scholarship
Ph.D. candidate, CEPS
A Ph.D. candidate in Earth and Environmental Science in the Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science, Mingcheng has worked as a research assistant in sustainability assessment, sustainable engineering, and environmental engineering. Mingcheng has researched the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of new emerging energy systems (e.g., solar photovoltaic-battery systems) and shared research through community engagement, teaching, conference presentations, and journal publications.
US DOE Solar Decathalon Design Competition UNH Team
Research & Scholarship
The Solar Decathlon team, working under the umbrella of the Senior Capstone Projects has 9 senior engineering majors, two faculty advisors, and a team sponsor, is the first UNH team to participate in the international DOE Solar Decathlon and has made it to the national finals. They have designed a "net zero" 600 student elementary school for a New Hampshire site. A net zero building is defined as a structure that generates as much energy as it uses. The proposed school utilizes technology such as photovoltaics, algae cultivated on site, and solar concentrators to "pipe" sunlight into the building using optic fiber cables.
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Social Work, CHHS
Gretchen was part of the network that helped to bring the Semester in the City program to UNH, and continues to be a strong ally, leading Social Work and other majors to accept Semester in the City credits towards their major curriculums, giving students added incentives and decreasing their stress regarding on-time graduation. Beyond this incredible work, Gretchen also incorporates Semester in the City into her courses by inviting alumni and host-sites to speak about their work in positive social change.
Alexandra Martin
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Anthropology, COLA
Alexandra is a core faculty in Native American and Indigenous Studies Minor, is actively engaged in teaching about Native American and Indigenous Heritage, works collaboratively with community partners (such as local Indigenous leaders, the Strawbery Banke and the Portsmouth Public Library) and leads students' research projects focusing on Indigenous heritage.
Robert Mohr
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Economics, PAUL
Robert developed an innovative curriculum (ECON 706) that explores the economics and public policy of global climate change and develops the economic theory including the concepts of externalities, stock pollutant models, the social discount rate, and complicating factors such as information, uncertainty, technological progress and risk. Students use economic analysis to compare different policy instruments such as administrative regulation, marketable permits, tax incentives, and direct subsidies.
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Senior, Business Administration, PAUL
Colleen has been a part of the UNH B Impact Clinic for four semesters. During the Clinic, teams of students from many majors and disciplines serve as consultants to assist regional companies that are assessing social and environmental impacts. She has been a student consultant, peer mentor, and now serves as the program assistant.
Curriculum Development & Teaching
Anthropology, COLA
Sara has incorporated high-impact experiential learning into her courses through a lens of social, environmental, and economic positive change with a solution orientation. In doing so, she not only encourages students to participate in the Social Venture Innovation Challenge, but has also linked it with the content and theory of Anthropology.
External Engagement
Senior, Economics, PAUL, Sustainability
Cole has been designing Sustainable ADA, a platform where sustainable problems and our Sustainable Development Goals are connected to Cardanos Blockchain technologies; educating and connecting people from both inside and outside the ecosystem on how this technology can lead toward a sustainable world.
Masami Dustin
External Engagement
Senior, Business Administration, PAUL
Masami is a Journal Assistant for the Section Editor of the Journal of Business Ethics, Corporate Responsibility: Quantitative Issues, as well as a member of Paul Scholars. Masami is an alumnus of the Semester in the City Boston program, where he interned with FamilyAid Boston, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower parents facing homelessness to secure and sustain housing while building strong foundations for their children's future. Following this experience, he became a Changemaker Coach, serving as a peer mentor for a group of first-year students.
External Engagement
Senior, Environmental Conservation and Sustainability,
COLSA
Throughout his undergraduate career, Forrest has been actively involved in conservation efforts in the state. He was a trip leader for the New Hampshire Outing Club, volunteered with Nature Groupie and the South East Land Trust of New Hampshire, and was a member of the Exeter Conservation Commission. Forrest is currently a member of the Newfields Conservation Commission and advises a local Girl Scout who is coordinating a service project to organize trash clean-ups on trails within the Town of Newfields.
Sadie MacIver
External Engagement
Senior, Animal Science, COLSA
Sadie has begun a first-generation, student-run sustainable fashion business that educates peers, faculty and staff on the dangers of fast fashion and sustainable clothing alternatives, with the goal of making an impact on the environment, in their individual lives.
Emily Mello
External Engagement
Ph. D. candidate, Graduate School Interdisciplinary
Emily has demonstrated interdisciplinary scholarship, initiative and leadership and is making a difference for communities across New Hampshire and New England. Emily has worked with municipal leaders and residents in Durham to support the Town’s new membership in the Global Covenant of Mayors by conducting a community-wide greenhouse gas inventory. In addition, Emily is supporting the New England Municipal Sustainability Network in its efforts to advance climate action and equity throughout the region.
Sarah Wilkinson
External Engagement
Junior, Analytical Economics, PAUL, Sustainability
While interning with Prime Buchholz, LLC, Sarah participated in their Mission Aligned Investment Committee, worked with data and research professionals to score managers with respect to ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) implementation, and actively made recommendations to maximize impact of the firm’s sustainability initiatives. Sarah has immersed herself on campus as a brother of Alpha Kappa Psi and as a member of Women in Business and served as a student consultant in the B Impact Clinic.
Paula DiNardo
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Coordinator/UNH Liaison, Study Away USA
Paula's work has been aligned with UNH's mission of enhancing student success and well-being for all students. She has been dedicated to investigating high-impact educational practices and barriers to participation, especially for first-generation and other underrepresented students.
Sabrina Grovom
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior, Nutrition, COLSA
Sabrina created a new board position within the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), becoming the first ever Sustainability Head. She created a survey for the athletics staff and another for the student athletes. She used that data to reach out to facilities and administration about making changes within the department. Her work culminated in a 100 slide presentation that presents thought-provoking information about sustainability.
Ely Marciano
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Senior, Philosophy, COLA
As a Changemaker Recruiter, Ely has shared with students the benefits of the Semester in the City program, the Social Venture Innovation Challenge and summer internship opportunities. As a Changemaker Coach, he has mentored first-year students to help them discover their interests and learn how to put them into action through their academic and experiential activities. Ely also founded “A New Dream” a multimedia educational content that focuses on many sustainability topics and philosophical questions.
Nicole Oberholtzer
Junior, Neuroscience and Behavior, COLA
Nicole worked to educate the Admissions Representative program and, in turn, campus visitors on the importance and efficacy of the numerous sustainability initiatives on campus through her role on the Undergraduate Student Representative Advisory Board. In this effort, she organized a sustainability panel for a monthly training session.
Matt Oriente
Campus Operations, Initiatives & Culture
Sophomore, Business Administration, PAUL
Matt served as the Sustainability and ESG Investment Fellow for the UNH Foundation, in collaboration with Prime Buchholz. He compiled research, developed and applied a scoring methodology to measure the sustainability of the UNH endowment pool. He assisted UNH’s Committee on Investor Responsibility and Finance as well as created student-facing outreach material to provide a broad overview of what sustainable investing looks like.
Amy Overhulser
Research & Scholarship
Freshman, Human Development and Family Studies, CHHS
Amy led efforts to increase sustainability on campus through her work on the Campus Structure Council on Student Senate by supporting a bike share program and a plastic bag recycling program on campus in collaboration with Hannaford. She was also an Outreach & Engagement Intern for the Sustainability Institute.
Victoria Wyman
Research & Scholarship
Senior, Business Administration, PAUL
Tori has been involved in a variety of Changemaker Collaborative programs during her time at UNH and as a culmination of her degree, she has been chosen to serve as the student representative for the Sustainability Task force for Spring 2021. Tori participated in the B Impact Clinic numerous times, serving on teams of students helping companies assess environmental and social impacts. She engaged with companies that shared her passion for business, social responsibility and community during the Social Innovation Internship and Semester in the City Boston programs.
Robin Hackett
Research & Scholarship
English, Women’s and Gender Studies, COLA
Robin's research of the Lesbian Herstory Archives explores the sustainability of the organization through the queer theoretical turn--a period in which the majority of feminist organizations that started in the 1970s collapsed--in order to understand it as an aspirational model for a transformed public operating from a politics of accountability, reparations, and love, and resistant to what Achille Mbembe calls necropolitics—a feature of colonialism and modernity alike—in which a continually shifting demographic of people, often brown, black, indigenous, and/or queer, are cast as waste, and thus properly dead.
Leanna Lostoski-Ho
Research & Scholarship
Ph.D. candidate, COLA
Leanna is researching narratives of environmental modernism, bringing together ecological studies and literary modernity. Her work challenges the boundaries of both areas of scholarship.
James Ramsay
Research & Scholarship
Department of Security Studies, Homeland Security Program, UNH Manchester
An influential body of research at the intersection of the climate crisis and homeland/global security, James' current area of research interests includes climate security, law enforcement education and the relationship between environmental and human security and national security strategic planning. He has served as a subject matter expert and grant reviewer on a wide range of health, safety, emergency management and environmental health issues. He has over 20 years’ experience in public health, emergency management, occupational safety, environmental health and security studies.
Andrew Ogden | $1500
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, COLSA
The funding award will support the construction of two new high tunnels and related supplies.
The funding award will support Wildcat Transit advertising to expand the Museum's reach and awareness on campus and beyond.
Semra Aytur | $2000
Health Management & Policy, CHHS
The funding award will support a summer intern and lab supplies/consumables, environmental sampling, and sequencing related to your collaborative aquatic epidemiology research.
Robert Mohr | $1000
Economics, PAUL
The funding award will support supplemental pay for the preparation of three introductory chapters for a classroom reader on economics and climate change.
Nick Pollak | $1500
Ph.D. candidate, CEPS
The funding award will support the purchase of a mass flow controller.
Hospitality Services, c/o Bill McNamara | $2000
The funding award will support the Food Repurposing Project general operating supplies.
