(Photo Courtesy of SMU News & Communications)
Dr. Lori White, the vice president for student affairs at SMU, has just been appointed to the board of directors of Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). She will serve on the board for a term through December 2014.
This national organization aims to empower higher education to improve sustainability on campuses.
“I appreciate that AASHE defines sustainability in the broadest sense of the word,” White said about AASHE’s vision and mission.
AASHE provides campuses with resources, professional development and a support network to help universities achieve advanced sustainability in all aspects.
“The outgoing chairperson of the AASHE Board of Directors, Geoffrey Chase, who is dean of undergraduate studies at San Diego State University nominated me because he thought my work a Vice President of student affairs would bring an important perspective to the AASHE Board,” White said.
“Dean Chase and I worked together when I was the Dean of Students at San Diego State University.”
White feels that her work in higher education, more specifically her work with students, will encourage students to commit to sustainability at SMU and after graduation.
“SMU has an active sustainability committee made up of faculty, staff and students,” White said. “I have met with the SMU sustainability committee and hope to bring any information learned from my involvement in AASHE to the sustainability committee to help enhance their work.”
AASHE hosts an annual sustainability conference for college students across the nation. Every year SMU’s Sustainability Committee funds attendance for a student representative and they plan to do so again this year.
White’s new position puts SMU on the map for more opportunities for expanding the university’s sustainability. “SMU has already done some great things related to sustainability,” White said.
“For example, SMU has LEED certification for new buildings that we build and encouraging students and faculty through various academic, service and research projects to use their knowledge and expertise to help make the world a better place.”
