-Jaanvi Sachdeva '21
Professor Robin Kimmerer
This year, Colgate University hosted the eighth annual State of New York Sustainability Conference (SoNYSC), in partnership with the New York Coalition for Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE) from November 6th-8th. Colgate was the first non-SUNY school to host the annual conference, taking on the responsibility in celebration of its upcoming bicentennial and achievement of carbon neutrality. Each year, the conference aims to provide a meeting ground to exchange ideas, disseminate best practices, share innovations, and bond with fellow sustainability professionals. This conference was attended by over 240 students, campus professionals, and sector professionals across New York State, the highest turnout the annual conference has seen to date.
Chancellor Kristina Johnson
The theme of this year’s conference was Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into New York Campuses. The busy schedule featured networking events, keynote presentations, a student poster session, and 6 sets of concurrent sessions of presentations and panel discussions. Dr. Kristina M. Johnson, Chancellor of the SUNY system, and Dr. Robin Kimmerer, Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director at SUNY ESF, both gave keynote presentations on Wednesday, November 7th. Dr. Johnson’s keynote was open to members of Hamilton Village and Colgate University to attend, and both keynotes were a highlight of many attendees’ conference experience.
During each set of concurrent sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, conference attendees had the opportunity to view presentations given by sustainability leaders from across New York state higher education institutions. All concurrent sessions demonstrated innovative campus initiatives that addressed one or more of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Some examples of presentations that were given are “How to Introduce Campus-wide Composting” and “Integrating the UN Sustainable Development Goals to Engage Students and Develop Global Leaders.” The full list of presentation can be found in the conference schedule.
The conference concluded with a panel discussion about how campus leadership can shape and support sustainability efforts on campus during the closing lunch. The panel, which was moderated by Marian Brown, Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Environment at Wells College, featured President Jonathan Gibralter of Wells College; Mark Lichtenstein, Executive Director of Sustainability of SUNY ESF; President Marion Terenzio of SUNY Cobleskill; and Trish St. Leger, Vice Provost for Administration and Planning of Colgate University. The focus of this panel was to explore “The C-Suite’s View of Sustainability”, or how campus leadership can shape and support sustainability efforts on campus. The closing lunch also featured the first-ever State of New York Sustainability Leadership Excellence Awards, which were given to Dr. Mary Ellen Mallia of SUNY Albany, and Pace University student Carly Sheinberg.
The conference was a great success thanks to the dedicated and strategic planning done by the SoNYSC Planning Committee and to assistance from student volunteers. The Planning Committee began planning efforts in March, making sure that every detail was taken into account, including acquiring and selecting conference presenters, securing sponsorships, and finalizing well-thought out elements that made the conference a true, sustainable success. Throughout the conference, Colgate Sustainability Interns and Sustainability Representatives were available to answer questions from conference attendees while assisting with ensuring smooth running of events.
Many efforts were made to keep sustainability at the forefront of this conference. For example, attendees had the option to offset their transportation emissions during registration thanks to partnerships with Urban Offsets on a landfill gas project in Rodman, NY and a tree planting project here in Hamilton, NY. Another sustainability win was the conference name-tags. The tags were made of seed-paper, ready to be directly planted in any climate upon leaving the conference, and the lanyards were made of 100% biodegradable bamboo.
From the impactful presentations and distinguished speakers, to the careful attention to detail, the conference was a resounding success, and Colgate’s Office of Sustainability is proud to have had the opportunity to host it. Nell Ziegler, a Honeywell representative noted,
“I left the event re-energized in the work that I do, and inspired by the other projects and goals folks are working on.”
This reenergizing of sustainability leaders was the intention of the conference, and we are now looking forward to another successful State of New York Sustainability Conference at RIT in 2019.