University Sustainability
This event has happened - slides can be found at the links below:
PDF (6mb): http://unsw.envirocollective.com/leith/LeithUNSWoct20-09.pdf
PPT (22mb): http://unsw.envirocollective.com/leith/LeithUNSWoct20-09.ppt
Handouts from the day are attached.
NTEU on Sustainable Campus
Leith Bio and Event Partners
http://www.unsw.edu.au/events/db/2009/10/sustainabilityleithsharp.html
http://www.eng.unsw.edu.au/alumni/unsweng/issue7/achieve.htm
http://www.green.harvard.edu
Leith Sharp - founder UNSW's green campus program and founding director Harvard's Green Campus Initiative
Leith Sharp has 18 years of experience in greening universities around the world. Beginning her career in 1993 as the first paid environment officer of any student union in Australia, Leith was recruited in 1995 by her undergraduate university, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), to establish one of world’s first green campus programs. Over five years Leith grew UNSW’s program from just herself to 10 full-time professionals leading the way in a variety of green campus arena’s such as transportation planning, recycling and composting, greenhouse gas reduction and green office practices. For her work in Australia Leith received numerous awards including Young Australian of the Year, NSW Environment Category and a Churchill Fellowship, allowing her to spend 5 months abroad studying best practices in international campus sustainability.
In 1999 Harvard University recruited Leith to become the founding director of Harvard’s Green Campus Initiative (Recently renamed the Office for Sustainability). By 2008, under her leadership, Harvard had the largest green campus organization in the world and was a recognized global leader in campus sustainability, receiving the highest national green campus ratings from the Princeton Review, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, the Sierra Club and Grist. Specific achievements include over 50+ LEED building projects (mostly Gold), a $12 million revolving loan fund (funded over 200 projects), wide scale behavioral change, a significant GHG reduction commitment, alternative fuels for vehicles, green cleaning, environmental purchasing and much more. Awards for her work in the USA include: the 2003 “Most Outstanding Paper” Emerald Literati Club Award for Excellence; a 2005 Department of Energy and EPA Green Power Leadership Award; a 2006 Cambridge City “Go Green” Business award for energy conservation and renewable energy at Harvard University; and a 2009 Honorary Lifetime Membership to the Boston Society of Architects in 2009 for her contribution to advancing green building in Boston.
Leith has consulted and presented to over 100 organizations and sits on the governing committees and editorial boards of numerous organizations dedicated to greening higher education including the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Leith is currently engaged in a variety of international campus sustainability related speaking, writing, teaching and consulting activities. Leith has an ongoing affiliation as a visiting scholar with Harvard School of Public Health and continues to teach organizational change management for sustainability and green building design through Harvard’s Extension School.
Leith has a bachelor of engineering (environmental) from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia and a Master of Education (human development & psychology) from Harvard University.
