Sustainability for Community Colleges: Curriculum, Culture, Conservation
ILR Conference Center
Cornell University
Ithaca NY
August 5-8, 2007
Presenters' Bios
Dr. Peter W. Bardaglio is a senior fellow at Second Nature. He served as the provost and vice president of academic affairs from 2002 to 2007 at Ithaca College, where he also held an appointment as professor of history.
Before joining Ithaca, Dr. Bardaglio was professor of history and interim vice president and academic dean at Goucher College. As a member of the Goucher faculty from 1983 to 2002, he received several teaching awards, including the Outstanding Faculty Award in 1994 and Outstanding Educator of the Year from the Maryland Association of Higher Education in 1998. He served as the Elizabeth Conolly Todd Distinguished Professor from 1995 to 2000.
A Jessie Ball duPont Fellow at the National Humanities Center in 1999-2000, Peter has also taught at the University of Maryland at College Park and University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. His numerous publications, conference papers, and invited lectures cover a wide range of topics, including campus sustainability, the 19th-century American South, family public policy, liberal education, and professional identity among 21st century faculty. He was awarded the 1996 James Rawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians for the best book published on the history of race relations in the United States.
Peter serves on the Senior Council of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and the Sustainability Advice and Review Panel of the Society for College and University Planning. He received his doctorate and master’s degrees in history from Stanford University and his bachelor's degree in history and English from Brown University.
John Cusack is the founder of Gifford Park Associates, a management and policy consulting firm specializing in the areas of strategic environmental/sustainability management and implementation, climate change risks, environmental finance risks and disclosure, energy, and the relationship between the environmental and financial performance of publicly traded companies.
He has an MCE in Environmental Engineering & Science from Manhattan College, an MBA with concentrations in finance and management from New York University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in New York State.
Cusack's advice on the research needs of the financial community in regards to environmental and social issues has been sought by the leaders of the Environmental Bankers Association, the UNEP Financial Initiative, the Environmental Management Association of German Banks, CERES, the Conference Board, the General Accounting Office, the Carbon Disclosure Project, the Clean Yield Group, federal and international regulatory agencies, NRDC, KLD Analytics, the Investors Responsibility Research Center, and the heads of environmental affairs/issues at leading financial institutions and a number of state and local pension funds and renewable energy funds.
Simultaneous to his consulting work, he serves as pro bono President of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Business Association of New York State, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology. He has served on a number of volunteer advisory boards on research, energy, environmental and technology issues for academic institutions, not-for-profit organizations, industrial companies and government agencies. Mr. Cusack is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors and of the North American Task Force of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Financial Initiative (UNEP-FI). He has guest lectured on sustainability and environmental finance/risk issues at Yale, North Carolina, RPI, NYU, Columbia, NJIT, INSEAD, Erasmus, Oregon, Tufts, Iona, and other colleges and universities, and recently was asked to testify at a congressional briefing on climate change. He is an active member in NRDC’s Environmental Entrepreneurs affiliate.
Dr. George M. Gray is the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development, which is the 1,900-person, $600 million science and technology arm of the Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Gray was ppointed to this position by President George W. Bush and confirmed—by unanimous consent—by the U.S. Senate.
Prior to joining EPA, George was Executive Director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, and a Lecturer in Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 16 years at HSPH, his research focused on scientific bases of human health risk assessment and its application to risk policy with a focus on risk/risk tradeoffs in risk management. Dr. Gray taught toxicology and risk assessment to both graduate students and participants in the Shool’s Continuing Professional Education program.
Dr. Gray holds a B.S. degree in biology from the University of Michigan, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in toxicology from the University of Rochester.
Jeff Jones is a consultant in political and media strategies and coordinates the New York State Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor, business and environment groups fighting for good jobs in the new energy economy. As an environmental activist, he campaigned to get PCBs out of the Hudson River, clean up toxic pollution in inner-city and rural neighborhoods and reverse global warming. From 1995-2005, he was communications director of Environmental Advocates of New York. Previously, he was an Albany-based reporter covering state politics and policy for a variety of news organizations. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Healthy Schools Network, the League of Conservation Voters (Capital Region Chapter) and the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy.
Rabi Kieber is currently the Sustainability Coordinator for the US EPA Region 2. In this capacity, she has developed several far-reaching programs to increase sustainable development throughout the region, including the Green Building Competition for New York City. This national competition, which is jointly sponsored by EPA Region 2 and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, attracts professionals from around the country to present their innovative New York City green-building-design projects and ideas. Kieber is also working with the USDA Forest Service, Columbia University, the New York City Department of Health, and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation on an innovative pilot project in East Harlem, designed to transform the landscape by increasing canopy cover, revitalizing community gardens, creating green 'cultural tourism' corridors, and assuring proper repair and maintenance of existing parks. She is working with Pace University to develop a green-roof research strategy, and with several universities in Puerto Rico to promote sustainability and smart growth. During her tenure at EPA, Kieber has provided numerous grants and technical assistance to communities throughout the region.
Prior to joining EPA, Kieber worked on programs to support at-risk communities at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of New York. She was a field coordinator for Africare in Niger, West Africa, where she developed and implemented numerous agricultural and forestry projects. She is also a former Peace Corps volunteer.
She received her Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelors in Natural Resources Management from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the United States Green Building Council New York Chapter.
Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton represents the New York State 125th Assembly District, which includes all of Tompkins County, the City of Cortland and the towns of Cortlandville and Virgil in Cortland County.
For fourteen years, Lifton served as Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Marty Luster. In addition, she has been closely involved with many important community groups. She was a long-time member of the steering committee of the Tompkins County Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and did local fundraising for Freeze Voter in 1986. She worked for many years with Justice for All, a local group that fought cuts to Medicare and Social Security and worked locally on living wage, welfare and health issues. Ms. Lifton co-founded the Coalition for Community Unity in 1998 to combat hate groups. She served for two years on the Cornell/Community Waste Management Committee and was a member of the Ithaca Area Health Care Network.
She received a B.A. in English, with certification to teach Secondary English, in 1973 and an M.A. in English in 1985, both from SUNY Geneseo. She taught high school English at Geneseo Central School from 1976 until 1982 and in Ithaca schools from 1985 until 1988.
Monica McKenna is the director of the Sustainability Leadership Institute, a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to developing leadership capacity in communities, businesses and organizations to support the work needed to co-create a more sustainable future.
She has over 20 years experience working with transformational change in organizations. Prior to co-founding the Sustainability Leadership Institute, her consultation practice, Learning Technologies, assisted a wide range of large and small corporations, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies in their organizational performance improvement initiatives. She has held management positions at Arthur Anderson’s Professional Education Division, the Environmental Systems Research Institute and Southern California Edison.
Monica is a frequent presenter and facilitator on participative leadership issues. She has designed and led numerous workshops for organizations and agencies and is currently teaching a graduate-level class at the University of Vermont on Leadership for Sustainability.
Dr. Debra Rowe works with higher education associations and K-12 associations on the integration of the sustainability paradigm into all levels of formal education. She is also working on a national public communication campaign about sustainability with ULSF.
Dr. Rowe has been professor of renewable energies and energy management for over 20 years at Oakland Community College. Students in her alternate energy technologies courses regularly include builders, architects, engineers, building trades people and facilities managers. She won the State and Regional Professional Development Award from the Association of Energy Engineers (www.aeecenter.org) for the curricula of the Environmental Systems Technology program. She also created and teaches energy management and renewable energies in an on-line format. She created an Energy Awareness Center at the college and hosted many conferences and customized trainings on energy and sustainable design practices.
As a consultant to a national consortium of community colleges entitled PETE (the Partnership for Environmental Technology Education), Dr. Rowe created a model energy management degree designed for community colleges, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, Dr. Rowe is the energy and sustainability consultant to the National Science Foundation's National Science Database Library.
Dr. Rowe was Interim Dean of Applied and Engineering Technologies at Oakland Community College in 2002-2003. Before coming to OCC to teach, Dr. Rowe owned a renewable energy and energy management company, conducting energy audits and designing/installing energy efficiency and renewable energy systems. She is on the education division board of the American Solar Energy Society.
Dr. Kathleen Schatzberg has been president of Cape Cod Community College for nine years. Her career includes nearly 30 years as an administrator and faculty member in community colleges in New York and Minnesota, as well as earlier positions as a teacher of English and reading in urban, suburban and rural public secondary schools. She has also worked in the private sector in the fields of market research and microform data storage.
She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Leadership Council for the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, and has led her own institution during an award-winning decade of commitment to sustainable management practices and expansion of environmental curricula. She also serves on the boards of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod; the Cape Cod Business Round Table; the Workforce Investment Board; the Cape Cod Community College Educational Foundation Board; the Cape Cod Center for Graduate Studies; and the Massachusetts Community College Presidents’ Council. In the past, she served on the boards of the Cape Symphony Orchestra of both the Hyannis and Cape Cod Chambers of Commerce, and of the American Association for International/Intercultural Education. She was 2004-2005 Chair of the Massachusetts Community Colleges Presidents’ Council. After serving as a member of Governor Mitt Romney’s Transition Team in 2002, she co-chaired the Regional Competitiveness Council for the Cape & Islands (2002-2006).
Dr. Jeanne Steffes is the current President-Elect of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA), having just been re-elected to that position after serving as President of the Association from 2004-2005. Her other leadership roles include serving as the ACPA Director of State and International Divisions, the President of the Maryland College Personnel Association and the President of the Boston Area College Housing Association.
Her professional positions have included work experiences at Capital University in Columbus, OH; Cornell University in Ithaca; Northeastern University in Boston, MA; and at the University of Maryland in both Student and Academic Affairs.
Her research interests include leadership, civic engagement, and organizational change and dynamics, and she enjoys working with and mentoring young professionals.
She received her undergraduate degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI; her graduate degree from Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, and her doctorate from the University of Maryland, in College Park, MD.
Diane Trainor is the Chair of the Chemistry and Physics department at Middlesex County College in Edison New Jersey. She is also a consultant for Robson Lapina Forensic Scientists and Engineers, and for Graphic Environmental Services.
She has testified as an Environmental Expert in the area of pesticide exposure and the potential health effects associated with that exposure, qualifying as an expert in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. She is also a certified Hazard Control Manager.
Dr. Trainor is a member of the Board of Directors of Perry Johnson Registrars in Southfield Michigan. She received an MS in Environmental Science from the University of Minnesota, and an MA and Ph.D. in Occupational Safety and Health from New York University.
Dr. Carolyn Grubbs Williams was named the fourth president of Bronx Community College of The City University of New York in June 1996. Prior to assuming this presidency, Dr. Williams served as the President of Los Angeles Southwest College, 1991-96. Prior to her presidencies, Dr. Williams served as Dean of Student Affairs at Highland Park Community College, Detroit, Michigan, and subsequently as the Vice Provost for Academic and Student Affairs and Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wayne County Community College, Detroit, Michigan.
Dr. Williams is known for her expertise in designing programs to help community college students continue their post-secondary education. She has led initiatives such as the Ford Foundation Urban Transfer Opportunity Program, the United Negro College Fund Transfer Opportunity Program and the National Center for Educational Alliances. Currently, under her leadership, Bronx Community College, through the National Center for Educational Alliances, has undertaken large-scale capacity-building projects in higher education in South Africa. Dr. Williams has received honorary degrees from the University of Natal, South Africa, and from Quinnipiac University, CT, in recognition of her work in South Africa.
Dr. Williams serves on a number of national boards including the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) where she served as Chair, 1999-00. She is currently a member of the Commission on Global Education. She was also on the Board of the American Council on Education and is currently serving on the Commission on International Initiatives. She is the Past Chair of Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL). She is a member of the following boards: Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), Higher Education for Development (HED) formerly known as Association Liaison Office (ALO), National Articulation & Transfer Network (NATN), the National Council on Black American Affairs (NCBAA), the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), including its Executive Committee, the Advisory Board of the Community College Research Center, Columbia University, and the Institute for Community College Development (ICCD).
Dr. Betty Young became the fifth President of Northwest State Community College, Archbold, Ohio, in September 2003. Dr. Young is known for an innovative and entrepreneurial leadership approach to higher education. She espouses the power of positive thinking, possibility thinking, and peaceful thinking in the belief that we are what we think. She seeks to facilitate the best in both students and those who serve those students. Since joining Northwest State she has begun work with the campus community to create a Student Success and Advocacy Center, and has opened two new campus centers in the five counties comprising the Northwest State service area. Under her leadership the campus continues to develop additional distance learning and alternative course delivery formats increasing access to higher education.
Dr. Young earned an associate’s degree, bachelor’s, masters, and a doctorate, all from Ohio University. She earned a law degree from Capital University Law School, as well as an LL.M. (post doctorate) in Business Law from Capital. She is currently licensed to practice law in Ohio and West Virginia.
