Program is at capacity and applications are closed. If you have any questions, please contact us at education@aashe.org.

The AASHE Sustainability Change Leadership Program (CLP) is a comprehensive virtual program aimed at training individuals in various aspects of organizational change for sustainability that you can apply now and throughout your career. As sustainability professionals, you’re often considered “change agents” for the institution – a person who acts as a catalyst for change and helps the organization transform how it operates by inspiring and influencing others. Many of the initiatives sustainability professionals work on are change projects (e.g., updating the climate action plan; developing a sustainable purchasing policy; redesigning your sustainability governance structure; launching a new initiative). Successfully implementing such projects can be a challenge and change efforts often fail.

Expert faculty, guest lecturers and seasoned coaches will guide you through the design of a change management project at your institution that culminates in a final presentation that you share with your colleagues (e.g., develop a sustainability/climate plan for your department or institution, conduct a STARS assessment, develop a new initiative, policy, or program, etc.). One-on-one and collaborative coaching from faculty, mentors and peers provide you with ongoing support and feedback that help you refine your skills and iterate on your project through the course of the program. Join a network of sustainability professionals, build relationships that will last a lifetime, and hone your skills as a transformational change leader!

This program is a collaboration between AASHE, Bard’s Graduate Programs in Sustainability, and the Open Society University Network. The AASHE attendees will join other programs from US, Mexico, Palestine, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh and elsewhere for a hands-on, cohort-based experience that equips them with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary for leading sustainability-focused change initiatives in their organizations.

Participate in this program to:

• Accelerate your capacity to design and sustain change projects
• Design and/or refine a plan for a specific organizational change project at your institution (e.g., update your climate action plan; develop a sustainable purchasing policy; redesign your sustainability governance structure; add or expand on your office’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals; launch a new initiative, etc.)
• Learn and practice Liberating Structures and hone skills to engage diverse campus stakeholders in each stage of the change process
• Build a practical toolkit of frameworks and techniques you can use to align vision, purpose, and outcomes and inspire action
• Cross pollinate ideas with a cohort of peers from across AASHE’s community
• Establish lasting relationships and expand your network with this highly interactive and fully virtual program
• Receive one-on-one coaching from faculty and peer-to-peer coaching with your colleagues
• Build buy-in for your efforts and invite participation from colleagues in your organization through an optional advisory board and a culminating final presentation  

For this program we are looking for a small cohort of committed 10-12 participants. Apply and register early! Last program in 2022 sold-out a few weeks before the deadline!

Participants who participate in collaborative coaching, work on an organizational change project over the course of the program and submit a final presentation are eligible for a certificate of completion issued from AASHE.

See testimonials from previous participants.

Go to:

Who Attends?
Program Design & Tentative Schedule
How Much Time Will I Spend?
Justify Your Attendance
Faculty & Facilitators
Testimonials

Key Details

Registration Fees* 

Registration Type	Registration Fee
AASHE member institutions, non-profits, and government agencies*	$975
Non-member institutions, nonprofits and government agencies	$1250
AASHE member businesses	$1950
Non-member businesses	$2500

* To check if your organization is a current AASHE member, please search the AASHE Membership Directory.

Discounts are available for group registration. A limited number of scholarships are available to individuals who need financial assistance to participate. Please apply two weeks before the application deadline (i.e., 1/2/2024) to be considered for a scholarship for this program.

Application Process

• A short application is required.
• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
• The program is intended to be a small cohort size. If the event fills-up, we may close the application process early.
• The deadline for submitting the application is January 16, 2024.
• You will be notified of your application status by no later than 1-2 weeks after you submit your application. At that time, all approved applicants will be provided with a request for payment.

Registration Process & Policies

As further detailed in our terms & conditions:

• Payment will be accepted in the form of Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover cards.
• Payment is required within 10 business days after being accepted to secure your seat.
• Deadline to pay is Thursday, January 18, 12:00 p.m. ET.
• Cancellation Policy: A 20% processing fee applies to any cancellation prior to Thursday, January 18, 2024. No refunds will be given after January 18, 2024.
• No substitutions are allowed.
• Sessions will be recorded and registered participants will receive access to all recordings.

Who Attends?

This event is intended for change leaders both new and experienced who are charged with playing a facilitative role in their organizations to catalyze change. If you are in a role where you are working relentlessly to engage your community in transformation, and you want to connect with others who are in similar roles, this event is for you. If you are unafraid to listen and share about your experiences and would like to deepen your skills to connect in meaningful ways, and help others to do the same, despite and even using the tools of the virtual environment we are working within, this event is for you. 

Tentative Schedule

The program will have two components:

• Attend the global classes on 13 Mondays at 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. ET starting on January 22 through April 29 (spring break on March 11).
• The AASHE cohort will meet additionally on

– Friday, January 19, 10-11:30 am ET – introductory session to the program; and

– Tuesdays at 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET.

See the detailed schedule for all meetings. All sessions will be recorded and made available to participants.

Additional Elements of the Program Include: 

• Pod Time: regular collaborative peer-to-peer coaching with a designated group of your colleagues enrolled in the program (scheduled with your pod to work with your calendar)
• Professional Coaching (scheduled to work with your calendar)
• Individual Project Work (or Team Work, if registering as a Team)
• Required Readings 

How Much Time Will I Spend? 

The time commitment is approximately 50-60 hours

Group Seminars, Pod Time, Readings, Final Presentations (~45-50 hours)

• Global Classroom (18 hours)
• AASHE Cohort Time (10 hours) 
• Required Readings (4-6 hours, approx.) 
• Pod Time (8 hours, approx.)
• Final Presentations (3 hours) 

Individual Work (Minimum 11 hrs)

• 1:1 Coaching (1-2 hours)
• Project Work (10-15 hours; minimum 1 hour/week; actual time spent will vary); this project should be chosen to integrate with your day-to-day work and professional sphere. 

Is AASHE’s 2024 Change Leadership Program on Your Boss’s Radar?

Use this resource to help justify your attendance and obtain support by explaining the benefits of attending for both you as an individual and your wider organization/community.

Faculty, Facilitators, Coaches

Global Classroom Lead Faculty: Aurora Winslade, Director of Sustainability, Edison International; Faculty, Bard Sustainable MBA 

Aurora has nearly twenty years of experience in higher education and private sector sustainability and clean energy work. She is passionate about equipping leaders with the tools to lead successful organizational change and build healthy, just, and resilient communities, and has been leading and facilitating professional development workshops since 2008. She co-created AASHE’s first sustainability officers retreat in 2011 and has led statewide and national workshops in California, Hawaii, New York, and Taiwan. Aurora recently became the Director of Sustainability at Edison International where she provides leadership for the sustainability strategy, goals, and programs; publication of the annual sustainability report, and engaging with key internal and external stakeholders to help advance one of the nation’s largest electric utilities towards a clean energy future. She is a faculty member in Bard College’s Sustainable MBA program, where she has taught Leading Change in Organizations to working professionals since 2017.

Aurora was previously the Director of Stanford University’s Office of Sustainability (2021-2023) and served as Swarthmore College’s Director of Sustainability from 2015-2021. She also founded new sustainability programs at the University of California Santa Cruz and the University of Hawaii. She has a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

AASHE Lead Facilitator: Daita Serghi, PhD; Senior Education Manager, AASHE

Drawing from a scientific background and over 20 years of experience in higher education and sustainability as an educator, researcher, and staff member, Daita has a profound interest in education programs that foster improved human connections, communication, and learning on a broad scale. In her current role as a Senior Education Manager, she is responsible for developing, innovating and advancing AASHE’s education vision and strategy, overseeing professional learning initiatives encompassing virtual and in-person workshops, webinars, and other educational programs. Prior to joining AASHE, Daita was the first Interim Sustainability Coordinator for the University of Hawai‘i System, and also has integrated sustainability in the curriculum and taught courses at the University of Hawai‘i. Daita is a LEED Green Associate, an ISSP Sustainability Excellence Professional (SEP), and holds a BS degree in Molecular Biology and Biosciences from the University of Bucharest, Romania and MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in the City of New York.

Coach: Jillian Buckholz, Sustainability Advisor, Brailsford & Dunlavey

Jillian is currently a Sustainability Advisor at Brailsford & Dunlavey, where she develops climate and sustainability actions plans for higher education institutions. Prior to consulting, Jillian was the Director of Sustainability at California State University, East Bay. As the first sustainability officer for the campus she was solely responsible for integrating the concepts of sustainability into all aspects of campus from academics to engagement, throughout the curriculum, operations and campus plans, and within administrative policies. Before coming to East Bay, Jillian worked at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) where she connected with subject matter experts to create the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. Jillian started her career as the first sustainability officer in the California State University System at Chico State, where she led the synthesis of cross-campus sustainability efforts into a cohesive, award-winning program.

Coach: Meghan Chapple, Vice President of Sustainability, Georgetown University

Meghan Chapple serves as the Vice President of Sustainability at Georgetown University. She oversees a unique set of operational, academic, and policy responsibilities to position Georgetown as a prominent contributor both nationally and globally on sustainability. She brings expertise in innovation, entrepreneurship, renewable energy, urban farming, biodiversity, inclusive sustainability, environmental justice, circularity, and green buildings.

Meghan has worked as a change agent for sustainability in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Most recently she led the George Washington University (GW) through its comprehensive sustainability strategy process, and established GW’s reputation as a leader in sustainability. Meghan advised F50 corporations at Sustainability and Odwaga, managed the global business education network at World Resources Institute, led youth education for The Nature Conservancy on the southside of Chicago, served in Americorps with Public Allies Chicago, and has supported many social innovation and sustainable enterprises. She has an MBA in Corporate Strategy and a MS in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan, and a BA in Environmental Science from Northwestern University.

Coach: Alistair Hall, Manager – ESG Climate & Services, KPMG US

Alistair is a Manager in KPMG’s ESG & Climate Advisory practice with over 10 years of professional experience delivering high quality sustainability work across a wide range of sectors. He has supported major apparel retailers, technology brands, and utilities with forming their ESG strategies, developing actionable Net Zero plans, and evaluating climate risk. Prior to joining KPMG, he served as Vassar College’s first full-time Sustainability Director working with students, faculty, and administration on the 2030 Climate Action Plan, renewable energy, and sustainability in the curriculum. He earned his MBA in Sustainability from Bard College and a BA in Urban Studies from Vassar College. Alistair has served as a Teaching Assistant for Aurora’s course on Leading Change in Organizations three times and is excited to support this AASHE program.

Coach: Barry Muchnick, Associate Professor and Chair of the Environmental Studies, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Barry Muchnick is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Environmental Studies Department at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he helped launch the school’s Environmental Studies major and the Environmental Citizenship Speaker Series. His teaching and scholarship is concerned with how natural and cultural forces interact to form our ecosystems, experiences, imaginations, and institutions. Following a joint undergraduate degree from Emory University in Psychology and Philosophy and a certificate in Wilderness Management from University of Montana, he earned a M.E.Sc. in Conservation Ecology from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Ph.D. in Environmental History from Yale University. At St. Mary’s he teaches a range of interdisciplinary courses that examine the complex interactions of people and their environments through the lens of problem-solving and change leadership such as an Applied Sustainability Practicum and a Field Studies in Sustainable Agriculture class. In Spring, 2023 he joined the Global Leading Change Course as an instructor along with a cohort of St. Mary’s undergraduates. Before St. Mary’s he tracked desert tortoises and grizzly bears, coordinated climate mitigation and food system fellowship network for private foundations, and ran a sustainable design studio.

Advisor: Ilse Rojas-Hamilton, Ph.D., Program Manager of the University of Arizona Office of Sustainability

Ilse’s multi-faceted role includes providing strategic direction for the department, integrating team efforts and skills, aligning them with the department’s budget process and broader University priorities to effectively drive informed sustainability and climate action decision-making across campus and beyond. Similarly, Ilse oversees much of the Office of Sustainability’s data collection and management, including the University of Arizona’s AASHE STARS process. She also oversees all aspects of the Compost Cats Program, one of the largest university-municipal composting programs in the country. Additionally, Ilse develops and administers innovative sustainability education initiatives that foster hands-on learning and engagement initiatives and promote a culture of sustainability across the broader campus and Tucson communities.
With over 15 years of experience in environmental and engineering consulting, higher education, interdisciplinary research, and sustainability leadership, Ilse brings a wealth of knowledge to her role. She is a Fulbright Alumna and holds a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Chile and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Testimonials from previous program participants

“Every part of the program was well thought out and well executed, such as the structure into small work groups, regular communications, coaching, and project assignments. […] I also enjoyed the fact that participants were at different stages of their career; early-career, mid-career, and a few senior-career professionals.”

Brandon Morton, Dallas College

“The program provided me with a number of tools to help me manage projects and move programs forward in a successful manner, and I learned a lot from the readings and assignments. Additionally, the coaches were fantastic – I am so grateful for their time and contributions to the course. I also greatly enjoyed getting to meet and work with more peers, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with many people from the program going forward.”

Liz Storn, University of Florida

“I learned a lot from the course and met some very helpful people. This course helped me to continue breaking out of my shell and forced me to really pinpoint what I want to gain out of my project.”

Helena Robinson, Xavier University of Louisiana

Any questions about the program?
Please contact Daita Serghi, education@aashe.org

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