The U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development

Officers

Debra Rowe, Ph.D. (President) is national co-coordinator of the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium, founder of the Disciplinary Associations' Network for Sustainability and senior advisor to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Dr. Rowe has been professor of energy management, renewable energy technology and psychology for over 40 years at Oakland Community College. She also co-created and taught Campus and Corporate Sustainability at the University of Vermont. Debra is co-organizer with UNEP-YEA the international Green Jobs Initiative. She created the SDG Publishers Compact Fellows, and collaborates with multiple UN agencies and the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative. She also co-organizes the National Clean Energy Workforce Alliance. She has many publications and awards, including the C3E award for Energy Education.

David E. Blockstein (Vice-President and Treasurer) is a Senior Advisor with the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) - a professional society for interdisciplinary environmental scholars, educators and students. He spent nearly 30 years with the National Council for Science and the Environment. He is an ecologist and conservation biologist with more than 30 years of experience in the science-policy interface.  

Sue Gentile (Secretary) is a professor at Antioch University, teaching in the Environmental Studies and Sustainability M.S. Program and Urban Sustainability M.A. Program. Prior to working at Antioch, Sue was a teacher and administrator at Northfield Mount Hermon School for over twenty years. Sue is a consultant for schools and school systems that are striving to educate for sustainability.

William R. Godfrey (retired), is president of Environic Foundation International (EFI). He has worked with diverse groups to increase understanding of sustainability issues and develop abilities
to address them. Recently, he was the lead author for Sustainable Societies-Africa, a UNEP funded project designed to mainstream environment and sustainability education in African universities. For 20 years he was an award-winning architect with projects in North America, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

Directors

Steve Cochran (previous director) is an internationally-recognized and nationally-prominent leader, speaker, writer, advocate and practitioner in the field of sustainable enterprise. He is the co-founder of Sustainability Strategies, LLC: an Asheville NC-based strategic planning and management consulting firm. He also serves on the boards of the Community and Economic Development Alliance, the Clean Air Community Trust, and Visitors of Warren Wilson College. He is the co-founder of the Sustainability Alliance of the Mountains (SAM).

Douglas Cohen (previous director) is a sustainability catalyst who works with organizations and communities to envision and pursue their flourishing futures. With more than 20 years as a strategic organizational change management consultant and leadership development specialist, Doug works closely with a community's sustainability vanguard - from government, business, civil society, and education - to create shared visions and pathways to implementation. He practices Social Architecture, an emerging large scale change discipline. Through his youth development programs, Inspired Futures, Doug helps nurture and equip young people to serve as sustainability-focused problem solvers and community builders. He is Chair of National Youth Initiatives for the US Partnership. Doug is now a past board member and we appreciate all he did for the US Partnership.

Evangeline Mengelkoch (current director) is a long term volunteer with US Partnership projects, from youth networks on education for climate solutions to our international work with the Clean Energy Ministerial Empowering People Initiative. Evey has a Masters degree in Sustainability Education.

Samuel H. Kosoff (current director) is the Director of Sustainability at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ. Sam was a founding member of The Island School, in Eleuthera, Bahamas. He has presented at the annual National Association of Independent Schools Conference, Friends School Environmental Education Network and several independent schools. He helps run the Green Cup Challenge, an energy competition among boarding schools and is the New Jersey coordinator for the Green Schools Alliance. He is also on the board of Sustainable Lawrence.

Terry Link (current director) created the Office of Sustainability at Michigan State University. He has mentored many hundreds of people in education and actions for sustainable development. Terry is co-author of the encyclopedia Achieving Sustainability. He was a Senior Fellow of the US Partnership before joining the board.

Laura Greenwood (current director) worked at the Sustainability Education and Economic Development - SEED Center, identifying and describing resources for educators to build the workforce for the green economy for the American Association of Community Colleges. She is also a Fellow for higher education networks for sustainability.

Dr. Suzanne Savanick Hansen (current director) is the first Sustainability Manager at Macalester College. She currently implements the college’s first comprehensive sustainability plan and is developing ways to use buildings and grounds as teaching tools. She previously developed the Sustainable Campus Initiative at the University of Minnesota, worked for the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College, the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance and served as an elected supervisor of the Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District.