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2021 Virtual Conference Program

Day One | Thursday, February 11th 2021
9:00-9:10am
Emcee Introduction
Adam Maurer | Sustainability Coordinator, Seattle Colleges
9:10-9:15am
Land Acknowledgement
Cecile Hansen | Chairperson, Duwamish Tribe
9:20-9:55am
Ubax will describe ways in which racial equity and climate justice work falters due to risk adversion, stuck notions of authority, and our overall economy of disconnection. An important step to healing this system is how students are educated, and Ubax will advocate for un-educating students and ditching top-down thinking at the educational level and focusing on bottom up transformative strategies.
Ubax Gardheere | Equitable Development Division Manager, City of Seattle
9:55-10:15am
Sustainability Round Table Update
Toren Elste | Program Specialist, University of Washington Sustainability
Claudia Frere-Anderson | Director, University of Washington Sustainability
Adam Maurer | Sustainability Coordinator, Seattle Colleges
Jenny McNamara | Sustainability Director, Portland State University
Taylor McHolm, PhD | Program Director, Student Sustainability Center, University of Oregon
Sarah Stoeckl, PhD | Program Manager, Office of Sustainability, University of Oregon
10:15-11:15am
It is increasingly clear that environmental issues and social injustice are two sides of the same coin. Both problems are caused by logics of perpetual growth and "us" vs. "them" paradigms. And neither can be solved in isolation; they must be tackled together. How can we resist, collectively and individually, the dominant perspectives that perpetuate the status quo? What would happen if we genuinely offered reparations to those who have been disenfranchised for centuries? And how can we repair the harm caused to people and planet by colonialism, structural racism, and extractive capitalism? The writers on this panel explore these questions in unique and varied ways. We will discuss each writer's approach to representing and dismantling injustice in their work and propose a collective vision for a future in which all peoples and the planet not only survive but thrive in the midst of massive challenges.
Moderator: Sarah Stoeckl, PhD | Program Manager, Office of Sustainability, University of Oregon
José González | Conservationist/Environmentalist, Chicano, and Educator
Tim Jensen | Associate Professor and Director of Writing, School of Writing, Literature, and Film, Oregon State University
Arianne True | Poet and Teaching Artist, Seattle
11:15-11:30am
Break
11:30am-12:30pm
In the past 12 months we have experienced remarkable social, economic, political and environmental upheaval. This workshop will examine the significance and importance of sustainability work in this new era, taking into account COVID-19, recent social movements, and economic uncertainty as we come up with strategies and a new approach to carrying out our ever-important sustainability work.
Toren Elste | Program Specialist, University of Washington Sustainability
Kathleen Klaniecki | Sustainability Coordinator, Central Washington University
Alexa Russo | Sustainability Coordinator, University of Washington Bothell
Amber Nicholson | Director of Sustainability, Bellevue College
In this workshop you will learn the benefits of, and how to, incorporate climate justice and civic engagement into your class. You will take part in a series of solo and group exercises, and will leave the workshop with an outline of a climate justice lesson or assignment, specific to one of your classes. Faculty from all disciplines are welcome and encourages to join this workshop.
Heather Price | Chemistry Faculty, North Seattle College
Sonya Doucette | Chemistry Faculty, Bellevue College
The nation's higher education endowments have immense economic and social power, representing more than 600 billion dollars. In the past few years, there has been a surge in interest around how endowment investment practices can be better aligned with institutional mission and purpose, including investing in local communities, addressing climate change, and reducing racial disparities. This session will explore how higher education endowments can align their investment practices with purpose, mission and anchor identity. Through presentations and moderated discussion, participants of this session will walk away with an understanding of how their institution's endowment works, how to connect with endowment decision makers on this issue, how to direct endowment capital with environmental and social considerations, the impact of these investments, and what participants can do right now to mobilize endowment action.
Kaede Kawauchi | Program Manager, Intentional Endowments Network
Jochebed Bogunjoko | Founder & Racial Equity Strategist, J Aduke Consulting
Ryan Taylor | Project Coordinator, ASU Enterprise Partners
Wesley Lauer, PhD, PE | Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Seattle University
Valentina Zamora, PhD | Associate Professor, Accounting, Seattle University
Since 2001, the APOYO food pantry has served a diverse population from Central Washington University facilities. The partnership almost came to a halt in early 2020, when APOYO's building lease was not renewed by the university. In this talk, we'll discuss the partnerships and advocacy work that was critical for maintaining APOYO's operations and the plans for enhancing collaboration and program impact moving forward.
Philip Garrison | Founder and President, APOYO Food Bank
Stefanie Wickstrom | Executive Director, APOYO Food Bank; and Faculty, Central Washington University
Susan Kaspari | Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Central Washington University
Hope Amason | Faculty, Central Washington University
12:30-1:00pm
Lunch Break
1:00-2:00pm
Sustainability Ambassador programs can be a great option for campuses looking to further engage students in peer-to-peer sustainability outreach, action, collaboration and data collection projects. The programs offer a space for interdisciplinary discussions and collaborative leadership by deepening student Ambassadors' academic sustainability content knowledge and strengthening their leadership skills. This session will explore how several campuses have created and developed these opportunities.
Robyn Hathcock | Program Manager, University of Oregon, Office of Sustainability
Kshamta Hunter | Sustainability Student Engagement Manager, UBC Sustainable Initiative, University of British Columbia, Canada
Abbie Little | Community Relations Coordinator - Experiential Learning, Academic Sustainability Programs Office, McMaster University, Canada

Sponsored by:

Factory Farming is one of the most environmentally destructive industries on the planet. Project Drawdown lists reducing food waste and eating a plant-rich diet as the top two most impactful steps individuals can take to reduce the effects of catastrophic climate change. Our daily food choices have the power to curb climate change, deforestation, and air and water pollution, increase access to healthy foods, and improve our personal and environmental health. In this session, we will explore the environmental impacts of industrialized animal agriculture and food waste on campus, intersectional issues of food insecurity and environmental justice, and offer practical solutions people and institutions can take to reduce the impacts of our diets for the future of our planet.
Meghan Jones | Seattle Director, Factory Farming Awareness Coalition
Taylor McKenzie | Third Year Student, Seattle University
In 2018, Seattle University (SU) became the first college in Washington state to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. This victory was the culmination of a 6 yearlong student organizing campaign led by the student group Sustainable Student Action (SSA). In tracing the timeline of SSA's organizational structure, actions, and the subsequent responses from the university administration, this talk will reflect on which actions proved most effective and why. After reflecting on the outcome of SU's divestment announcement, the speakers will discuss next steps for the university, including exploring if and how Socially Responsible Investments (SRI's) and funds with a focus on sustainability in Environmental, Social, and Governance factors (ESG's) could be incorporated into the university's endowment and retirement funds.
Emily Nielsen | Sustainable Student Action Member, Seattle University
Keira Cruickshank | Sustainable Student Action Member, Seattle University
At Portland State University, we developed a underwent a new planning process to turn our STARS submission into an Action Plan that will help us implement best practices and intentionally improve our STARS score. At this session, participants will learn about the tool we used (which will be made available to participants), the process we undertook, and how to apply it on their campuses. For PSU, this represents a change for us from point-chasing to intentionally evaluating gaps and implementing best practices.
Rob Hemphill | Sustainability Data Analyst, Portland State University
Amanda Wolf | Program Analyst, Portland State University
2:00-2:30pm
Break
2:00-2:30pm
Poster Sessions
2:35-3:10pm
We stand at a crossroads facing multiple global crises, from climate chaos and Covid-19 to the rise of fascism and militarization around the world. Most civil society campaigns have become obsolete in their ability to tackle such complex challenges, and grassroots social movements have had to adapt strategies to simultaneously fight the bad, create the new and rapidly build community resilience to weather future storms, floods, fires, wars and pandemic headed our way. This presentation will examine ways that change makers need to pivot away from conventional sustainability and policy reform goals, and align vision, strategy and practice to fully embody the change we need to cultivate for the survival of humanity, and all future generations.
Ananda Lee Tan | Director, Shaping Change Collaborative
3:10-3:15pm
Break
3:15-4:00pm
Join us to see how virtual reality can be used as a dynamic tool to learn about our campus buildings and infrastructure. Using virtual 3D educational technology, you'll experience a state of the art virtual learning environment to enhance online education, get up close looks at LEED building sustainability components, and learn how the Sustainable Building Science Technology program at SSC made it all possible.
Steve Abercrombie | Sustainable Building Science Technology Faculty, South Seattle College
Cascadia College is working to inspire students to achieve food sustainability through multiple programs that increase access to sustainable food choices. Student leaders will share ideas on campus programs and efforts, and lead discussion on how campus sustainability and equity efforts align. Please join us at our discussion!
Paige Williams | Student, Equity and Inclusion Student Advisory Committee, Cascadia College
Deja Brown | Student, Equity and Inclusion Student Advisory Committee, Cascadia College
Stephan Masao Classen | Assistant Director of Sustainable Practices, Cascadia College
Sarah Fenton | Student Body President Advisor, North Seattle College
Lily Butler | Student, Oregon State University
4:00-4:10pm
Transition Break, grab a beverage and get cozy!
4:10-5:00pm
20 years ago, a young group of social entrepreneurs joined a movement to change the world through the pursuit of an alternative economic model and practice of conscious commerce. Seeding Change is about "triple bottom line" businesses that consider the social, environmental and financial impacts of their companies and address some of today's most challenging issues. This award-winning documentary empowers viewers to be part of the solution by voting with their dollars and supporting the brands and products that align with their values.

WOHESC recognizes that this film represents a Western business perspective on supply chains, and that working within today's capitalist systems offers some short term solutions but may be more limiting in the long run.
Day Two | Friday, February 12th 2021
8:30-8:35am
Emcee Intro & Announcements
Adam Maurer | Sustainability Coordinator, Seattle Colleges
8:35-9:05am
NW Natural will share results of a Portland State Center for Public Service study demonstrating how natural gas infrastructure and renewable natural gas can bolster the resiliency of regional energy and transportation systems. Learn how we're putting this vision of local decarbonization into action through partnerships.
Holly Braun | Energy Innovation and Policy Manager, NW Natural
Hal Nelson | Associate Professor, Portland State University
9:10-10:10am
While sustainability professionals and academics have focused on the physical impacts of multiple converging environmental crises, we've given far less attention to the psychological and emotional toll of these crises. If that weren't enough, the emotional weight of the pandemic and an intensified reckoning with the structural injustices of our society have only intensified stress and anxiety, particularly in those already experiencing them. This panel brings together people who have been actively working to bring attention to, and help support people through, climate anxiety and positive mental health as it relates to the existential stressors of our times. Listen, learn and engage as panelists describe the positive actions and strategies we can take, and the importance of giving space to these often overlooked aspects of tackling the climate crisis and social injustice.
Moderator: Taylor McHolm, PhD | Program Director, Student Sustainability Center, University of Oregon
Sarah Jaquette Ray, PhD | Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies, Humboldt State University and author of A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet (2020)
Jennifer Atkinson, PhD | Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Washington Bothell
LaUra Schmidt | Founding Director, Good Grief Network
Jenna Truong | Student, University of Washington
10:10-10:30am
Yoga Break
Molly Spangler | Yoga Instructor
10:30-11:30am
This presentation will provide specific tools, examples and reflections on centering equity in climate action planning from Portland Community College and sustainability planning from the University of Washington. During this session, speakers will present about efforts to foster equitable and inclusive stakeholder engagement by providing details, resources and examples from equity trainings, workshops with students, interdepartmental faculty and staff workgroups, and more. Learn how they were able to work collaboratively to achieve actionable plans that center equitable processes and outcomes. Hear reflections on what worked well, where there is room for improvement and what lies next for implementation. This session will provide participants with tools and resources to center equity in their planning processes as well as create space for critical reflection on their efforts to-date as well as efforts in the broader sustainability movement.
Briar Schoon | Sustainability Manager, Portland Community College
Stephania Fregosi | Sustainability Analyst, Portland Community College
Claudia Frere-Anderson | Director, University of Washington Sustainability
Christoph Strouse | Grad student and project coordinator, UW Sustainability Plan
Dominant white supremacy capitalist culture supports norms and standards that foster disconnection and burnout such as perfectionism, sense of urgency, individualism, power hoarding and more. Our focus on constant doing and fixing within this dominant culture widens our disconnection from each other, from the earth, and from ourselves. This session will help us see beyond this "normal" way of functioning and will explore ways of being that support wholeness and connection. Come ready to engage in restful practices that will radically support ways of being that help dismantle destructive white supremacy culture, and bring more connection to your life and work.
Heather Burns, EdD. | Associate Professor, Portland State University, Leadership for Sustainability Education Master's Program
Laura Steffen, MBA, CPC, ELI-MP | Life Coach
The Southern Oregon University Sustainability Curriculum Initiative (SOUSCI) was initiated in the 2019-2020 academic year in the division of Business, Communication, and the Environment (BCE). A cohort of ten faculty and four leaders from BCE integrated sustainability into a variety of courses - from argumentation and critical thinking, operations management, food and beverage management, to film theory and practice and management information systems, to name a few. The outcomes of the program were very positive, including change in existing paradigms in teaching and learning, growing awareness of sustainability and environmental issues, facilitating interdisciplinary background and collaboration and most importantly - building community within the university. A repository through which each faculty can share their work to the broader university community was created so future cohorts can access and build off this initial effort.
Pavlina McGrady | Assistant Professor, Southern Oregon University
E. Jamie Trammell | Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, Southern Oregon University
In this session, University of Washington Campus Sustainability Fund's student staff will have a brief overview of the grant's 10 year timeline on campus, its student-lead efforts, and its evolutionary nature. During the discussion, we will spotlight the successes of the CSF's work and commitment to campus sustainability, along with the different challenges the organization has faced throughout the years. The focus is to showcase the importance of incorporating intersectionality and inclusion efforts to environmentalism through our organization and pinpoint the challenges that come with it, and share the lessons and solutions.
Fotima Ibrokhim | Outreach Coordinator, University of Washington Seattle
Yahia Ali | Project Development Specialist, University of Washington
11:30am-12:00pm
Lunch Break
12:00-1:00pm
Advancing diversity, inclusion, and equity in the work of higher ed requires forging new partnerships and re-envisioning sustainability programming to serve students who are marginalized by poverty, inequity, and other forms of oppression. This session will provide several examples from Oregon State University, Willamette University, and Southern Oregon University of programs moving the needle on campus sustainability while focusing on providing for the basic needs of students. Programs include redistributing unserved food from dining programs, innovative ways to source fresh and local food to food pantries, school supplies giveaways, programs connecting students to affordable transportation options, and more, including how programs can be modified to meet pandemic health guidelines. Presentations will be followed by ample time for questions as well and an invitation for audience members to share about the basic needs-focused programs on their campuses.
Andrea Norris | Marketing & Development Coordinator, Materials Management, Oregon State University
Emily Faltesek | Food Security Programs Coordinator, Human Services Resource Center, Oregon State University
Miya Konishi | Bearcat Pantry Coordinator, SOAR Center, Willamette University
Jill Anne Smedstad | Environmental and Community Engagement Coordinator, Student Sustainability Center, Southern Oregon University
This session will focus on the evolution of campus district heating/cooling systems, new low carbon heating/cooling technologies, on-the-ground conditions needed to harness them, and provide a rough sense of costs and likely emissions reductions. Hear from University of Oregon and California State University on their strategies to address heating-based natural gas emissions and decarbonize existing infrastructure. Attendees can expect to learn what financial, environmental and campus conditions are necessary to make a strong case for re-investment at your institution.
Brian Stern | Regional Energy Director, Glumac
Rachel Wong | Associate University Engineer, California State University
Steve Mital | Sustainability Director, University of Oregon
Lyle Keck | Building Performance Engineer, Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
This interactive workshop is the culmination of a quarter-long engagement between Antioch Seattle's MA in Urban Sustainability and South Seattle College's Sustainable Building Science Technology BAS Program. Students were asked to generate new paths of exploration and recommendations for reframing action across comprehensive urban systems - ecology and place, natural and built systems, race and social justice, economics and policy, and the built environment . Now they are seeking to engage with WOHESC attendees to heighten the scale of engagement. This session is ideal for using student learning to take action, or to adapt and deploy the learning experience within other institutions.
Darryl Harris | Student, South Seattle College
Tiare Gill | Graduate Student, Antioch University Seattle; Community Growth and Impact Manager, City Fruit
Kevin Gibson | SBST SR, Hermanson Service Department Foreman
Steven Vasquez | Student, South Seattle College
Can the use of positive behavior impact apps help universities steer their community toward a more equitable, resilient, healthy and sustainable future? This session brings together PIPs Rewards and the TimeOut app to discuss research and evidence based data about how these apps can enhance engagement and mindfulness in a campus community setting. Learn how these apps are able to continuously drive engagement in everyday actions to generate meaningful and measurable outcomes.
Ronnie Eder | Marketing & Communications Manager, PIPs Rewards
Ryan Maikell | Student, UCCS
Maya McClendon | Founder, TimeOut App
1:00-1:45pm
Break
1:05-1:35pm
Structured Networking
1:45-3:30pm
During this session participates will learn ways their institutions and organizations can build relations with indigenous communities to show their commitment to the Land both here and elsewhere while honoring their sovereignty, cultural heritage, and lives.

Participants will hear from students of the Urban Native Education Alliance Clearsky Leadership Council Urban Native Education Alliance and learn more about the work of the (UNEA) student project "Licton Springs - A Sacred Site of the Duwamish Tribe Ancestral-Homeland" Watch the documentary of the spring's story through film and gathering support with online campaigns, including a petition with over 1,600 signatures in support of Seattle first Native American historical landmark. This will include a live student panel.

This session will be in honor of our beloved Snoqualmie Chief Andres "Andy" Juan de los Angeles as share with prayers and sadness of his passing 2/15/1952 - 1/21/2021.
D'Andre Fisher, M.Ed. | Associate Vice President, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, North Seattle College
Sarah Sense Wilson | Chair, Urban Native Education Alliance
Cante Remle | 13 year old Lakota youth
Chayton Remle | 16 year old Lakota youth
Tim Shay | 16 year old Yakama youth
Akichita (AK) Taken Alive | 19 year old Standing Rock Lakota youth
Issac Hochberg | 18 year old Assiniboine Sioux youth

Click here to view the 2020 Program