With a desire to bring together different departments across campus, Kate Witte, the new Keene State Sustainability Coordinator, thinks sustainability might be the answer.
“Oftentimes in academia, there are silos and sustainability is a good bridge for some of those siloed departments,” said Witte.
Witte originally served as a graduate assistant for Linsy Edmunds, the previous sustainability coordinator, throughout the spring 2023 semester. Now, Witte returns to Keene State to take over the position.
She began the position over winter break, with Jan. 8, being her first day on the job.
Witte said she graduated in May with her master’s in environmental education and enjoys working in academic spaces, citing that to be one of the motivators to apply for the job.
At the top of the list of things to do coming into the position, is to finish the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Stars report, she said.
Currently, Keene State has a gold star rating, but the report has not been officially worked on since Edmunds left the position, she said.
However, Witte noted that the data is there, but they just need to put it into the report, as students have continued to collect and research over this past semester.
“Stars is a pretty comprehensive report, but we’re getting it done,” Witte said.
Another focus area, Witte said, would be to keep the school on track with its sustainability goals, citing the school’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
Another area that was not as active during the last semester, the green bikes program, could be making its way back to full operation. Witte said they are working on getting mechanics back in the shop. However, she noted a volunteer has been working there throughout the last semester.
For interns who work in the sustainability office, Witte said she is working on getting that back too.
“We’re working on getting everything, at least for this month, back to 2023 levels … and we’ll go from there.”
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
