Each year the Sustainability Awards selection committee reviews nominations and selects one faculty, one staff, and one student employee who has excelled in advancing sustainability at HSU and in the community. Our 2021 award winners each embody a spirit innovation, collaboration, and leadership to create solutions to pressing challenges facing the campus and society.
Each year’s award winners are selected from a pool of nominations by an awards selection committee. For more information on sustainability at HSU, visit the Office of Sustainability website.
This year the award winners were presented with an art piece made by local artist Katie Belknap from upcycled materials.
2021 Student Staff Award Winner
As a research assistant in the Native American Studies department, Amanda McDonald has provided direct support to the resurgence of Indigenous food sovereignty, and traditional ecological and cultural knowledge for climate resilience. Thanks in great part to her community outreach, event coordination, planning and fundraising efforts, groundbreaking for the Food Sovereignty Lab & Cultural Workshop Space is set for Fall 2021.
2021 Professional Staff Award Winner
Frank Herrera is the coordinator of the Social Justice, Equity & Inclusion Center, where he has actively pursued the integration of sustainability into the center’s programming. This work has included the establishment of a paid student sustainability position, establishing strong collaborative partnerships with campus and community sustainability groups and organizations, implementing zero waste and energy efficiency measures in the center, and working to expand and diversify the annual Social Justice Summit. He is also an active member of the HSU Advisory Committee on Sustainability.
2021 Faculty Award Winner
Sarah Jacquette Ray teaches and conducts research within the Department of Environmental Studies. As department chair, Ray is an energetic, passionate and conscientious educator who inspires her students and peers to actively engage with climate justice, community resilience, and climate change. Sarah’s most recent book, A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, is testament of her commitment to this important work.