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Co-Director, Sustainability Program
Professor
Ph.D., University of Chicago
OVERVIEW
Help create a more sustainable future for our planet and its people. Gain the skills to assist organizations and communities in achieving success through Triple Bottom Line thinking and operations.
Baldwin Wallace's sustainability major is a comprehensive program offering four concentrations — business, policy and ethics, quantitative science, and science — that enable you to customize your coursework to align with personal and professional interests.
Sustainability Major Based on Elite Global Standard
As a Silver STARS*-rated AASHE** member institution, BW teaches students in the sustainability major in the problem-solving methodology of Triple Bottom Line thinking — people, planet and prosperity. This approach employs a transdisciplinary cost-benefit assessment, lifecycle analysis and nested systems mode of evaluating the environmental, social and economic consequences of the choices people make individually and collectively to achieve the greatest benefit at the least cost to future generations.
*Sustainability Tracking Assessment Rating System
**Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
Comparing Sustainability, Environmental Science
Sustainability focuses on developing solutions that enable communities and organizations to be socially responsible, environmentally friendly and economically savvy innovators. Environmental science focuses on the application of biological, chemical and physical principles to the study of the physical environment and the solution of environmental problems.
Career Opportunities in Sustainability
BW's sustainability major offers outstanding preparation for immediate workplace application as well as graduate school programs in environmental studies, law, business and more. Sample career paths include:
- Environmental social governance (ESG) compliance and/or investment specialist
- Corporate social responsibility (CSR) officer
- Nonprofit and environmental policy leadership
- Green products and services
- Environmental consulting and analysis
- Sustainability specialist and/or program coordinator
Course descriptions, requirements for the major and additional information can be found in the University Catalog.
STUDENT EXPERIENCES
Faculty mentoring and real-world learning experiences offer outstanding opportunities both inside and outside the classroom.
Internships
BW sustainability majors have secured internships at many corporations and nonprofits such as Goodyear, Oatey, Wendel Architects and Engineers, the Flying Horse Farms, West Creek Conservancy, City Ashtabula, Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo), Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability, the Metroparks and the Cleveland Port Authority.
Research
Currently, more than 25 BW faculty are engaged in sustainability-related research. The sustainability program has secured more than $500,000 in funding for various projects, including from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help fight food waste and insecurity through smartphone technology.
Over the past three years, sustainability majors have been selected to participate in the BW Summer Scholars program to work on food insecurity, stormwater runoff and air quality mapping. Several students have won prizes in campus competitions, including Jonathan Schroeder '23 (pictured to the right), who won $1,000 in BW's 2021 IdeaLabs Competition for the invention of a solar powered hydroponic tower called the Branch Light™ that he and teammates developed for a class, Biomimicry – Naturally Inspired Innovation.
Other student teams from the course won cash prizes in 2018-20 in the BW Start Something competition for a penguin-inspired water bottle, shark gill-inspired drain filter and turtle shell-inspired iPhone case. In addition, another student received the Women for BW award for a guerilla gardening hydroponic tower concept.
Student Clubs & Organizations
Biomimicry Club facilitates the expansion of knowledge and practice of biomimicry through discussion, community service and education. Pictured below, the Biomimicry Club's Team Waddle Bottle took the first-place prize of $300 in the social enterprise category of the 2018 Start Something BW competition. From left to right, Jake Davis, Bryce Posner, Rachel Neuerer and Joe Rini were inspired by penguin blubber to design a lightweight, flexible, insulated water bottle suited to outdoor enthusiasts, military personnel and others working in extreme weather conditions.
Students for Environmental Awareness work on sustainability events on and off campus. The impact of the club can be seen across the BW campus, including the EZH20 water stations, which have taken over a million plastic bottles out of circulation.
Student Tended Natural Garden (STNG) sponsors a community garden through which it educates the campus and surrounding community about the importance of composting, sustainable initiatives and local food.
Campus Committed to Sustainability
Ohio’s First Undergraduate Sustainability Major
BW launched Ohio's first undergraduate major in sustainability in 2008 and has earned the prestigious STARS Silver rating from the international Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. BW is ranked in 2021 Sierra Club Cool School and has been designated a Tree Campus USA® by the Arbor Day Foundation. We were ranked 88 of 420 Green Colleges and Universities in 2021 by the Princeton Review.
Campus Sustainability Programs and Initiatives
Baldwin Wallace is dedicated to sustainability as a signatory to the Talloires Declaration. Though too numerous to name, some initiatives include:
- Two solar arrays, a wind turbine, bioswales and vegetated swales, and a composting system called Grind2Energy utilized by dining services.
- Five geothermal fields – including the first for a college residence hall in Ohio – that heat and cool campus buildings.
- Green residence hall, Harding House, for students to experience sustainable living firsthand. The solar-powered building has rain barrels to serve raised vegetable beds.
- BW offers more than 70 courses that have been reviewed for their sustainability content.
- BW is home to more than 1,500 trees, most of which are native to Northeast Ohio.
- Campus cleaning service operations (through Aramark) employ the company’s Green Cleaning Products program.
Shane Cornell '21 is an environmental geologist at Flynn Environmental collecting soil and water samples from client properties. He writes tier 1 source investigations, notifications and underground storage tank (UST) closure reports, and assists in phase I and II environmental assessments for commercial real estate, testing ground water and soil for RCRA Metals & VOCs.
Hastings Marek '21 is pursuing a master’s degree in environmental and sustainability studies at the College of Charleston, where she is currently a teaching assistant in biology. She will be helping with the school’s AASHE STARS reporting, as well as continuing research for innovations in sustainability on college campuses.
Nathan Onchuck ’16 is the energy and sustainability manager at Ozinga Ready Mix. He led the implementation of a company-wide utility tracking system, manages energy procurement and works with personnel to minimize energy waste. He leads Ozinga’s involvement with the Energy Star and Better Plants programs.
Anna Piazza ’15 is a senior GIS analyst at EnviroScience, Inc, a company that specializes in environmental consulting, ecological restoration, marine services and biomonitoring. She previously worked at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, where she assisted with the Regional Stormwater Management Program.
Eric Sokol '15 is a public involvement specialist at Burns & McDonnell, a global engineering, architecture and construction firm. A certified Envision Sustainability Professional, he plays a pivotal role in addressing environmental concerns for clients. He looks beyond immediate project needs to create a positive impact on affected communities.
Richard Bargielski '14 is NSF grant writing and research specialist for Wissen, Inc. He received an MA in anthropology from The Ohio State University and PhD in applied anthropology from the University of South Florida. He has taught general anthropology and honors environmental science courses.
Ebony Hood ’13 is cofounder of Syatt, where she leads the U Matter Institute, a youth participatory action research program that culminates with an abroad experience that focuses on sustainable efforts across the environment, government, and ethnic contributions of selected countries. She’s also a community relations specialist with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
Emily (Bryant) Katzin ’10 is project manager of the Office for a Healthy Environment with the Cleveland Clinic. She was previously sustainability manager at the Philadelphia Zoo. Her sustainable art is currently exhibited at Art.Science.Gallery. in Austin, Texas, and has been featured in The STEAM Journal. Emily is from Rocky River, Ohio.
Erika Meschkat ’10 is senior sustainability analyst at the J.M. Smucker Company. In her previous position as sustainability manager for the City of Cleveland, Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, she helped lead the 2018 update of the Cleveland Climate Action Plan and the development of the city's Climate Action Plan Racial Equity Tool.
Derek Skapes ’06 is owner of Everarbor, an outdoor lifestyle company specializing in apparel, landscaping, arboriculture, wildlife solutions and Everbrew, a soil additive made from local brewery and coffee shop waste. From Lakewood, Ohio, he is also wildlife research technician and forestry technician with Cleveland Metroparks.
