The Office of Sustainability hires its second full-time employee.
Jen Jones, a former graduate assistant for the Office of Sustainability, was recently hired as the Facilities Coordinator for the Office. The position requires that Jen coordinate sustainability efforts between various departments on campus, most specifically those that have implications for the physical infrastructure at the College. This includes, but is not limited to, waste management, emissions tracking, and coordinating efforts to install projects such as rain barrels, water re-fill stations, etc.
As one of two full-time employees in the Office, the other being director Brian Fisher, Jen fills in where she is needed. While her focus is in facilities, she also helps with the intern program and helps to coordinate their projects. Jen is also involved with the newly re-established Sustainability Planning Network (formally the Sustainability Committee) and helps to coordinate efforts with the ECOllective Student Project Committee.
Jen provides a dedicated personnel position to act as a liaison between other offices on campus and the Office of Sustainability. All positions throughout the office need to be flexible and adaptable to address the challenges that arise, and each member works in multiple areas. With that being said, Jen’s focus as the Facilities Coordinator creates a central point of contact for sustainability projects that revolve around facilities.
The Office is working with various departments and divisions on campus to create a more sustainable approach to operations of the College. The Office is working to transcend boundaries and necessitate communication and collective action beyond them.
As a former graduate assistant, Jen had a role in establishing the current phase of sustainability at the College. She was part of the student group who presented the establishment of the “green fee” (formally known as the ECOllective Fee) to the Board of Trustees’ Budget and Finance Committee. She was also the student representative on the search committee for the director’s position. For Jen, it is rewarding to be able to stay on and finish her work on a full-time basis. She has been so impressed with what the Office has accomplished in the last year and a half. She is looking most forward to where the College will be in two years, five years, 10 years, and beyond.