President Speaks to the Power of Resilience at Sustainability Conference

By Danica Fisher ’05, December 4, 2020

Shirley M. Collado welcomes attendees with opening remarks.

President Shirley M. Collado speaking at the 2020 State of NY Sustainability Conference.

Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado welcomed attendees to the 2020 State of NY Sustainability Conference held virtually on Dec. 2. The New York Coalition for Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE), Cornell University, Ithaca College, and the Conference Steering Committee invited state-wide participation in its tenth annual State of NY Sustainability Conference being held through Dec. 4 with over 850 participants.

Both President Collado of Ithaca College and President Martha Pollack of Cornell University opened the conference with words of encouragement around sustainability in higher education.

“We can move forward in an incredibly challenging time,” said President Collado. “The role of resiliency and how to call upon our resilience and our creativity in forging new pathways and new partnerships is important as our institutions and our community step up to change really entrenched patterns of behavior and ways of doing business that no longer serve our planet, or the public good.” 

“Looking back, I do think we can all agree that if there was ever a moment in our history where we have been face-to-face with our common responsibility for our shared future, it's right now,” said President Pollack. “Over the past few months, we've seen that the idea of one health isn't just a theory, it's the way our planet works; environmental health, animal health, human health, they're all inextricably intertwined.”

“At Ithaca College our strategic plan, Ithaca Forever, centralizes and prioritizes equity within the climate crisis as one of the most challenging problems that our world faces and identifies our institutional responsibility to be a part of a solution."

President Shirley M. Collado.

The theme of this year’s conference is "Moving Forward in an Upside-Down World: Building Resilience, Adaptation, and Opportunity," which seeks to showcase ways in which higher education institutions can maintain momentum and advance sustainability efforts on their campuses during this turbulent time.

“At Ithaca College our strategic plan, Ithaca Forever, centralizes and prioritizes equity within the climate crisis as one of the most challenging problems that our world faces and identifies our institutional responsibility to be a part of a solution,” said Collado. “We realize that our vision to be a global destination for bold thinkers who seek to build thriving communities is real, is authentic and needs to get activated.”

President Collado also mentioned Ithaca College’s staff and faculty who are working on opening a Center for Climate Justice, a collaborative effort that seeks to bring together faculty, staff and students from different disciplines, as well as community stakeholders, to help address pressing challenges and find a holistic and equitable path forward.

“We also have talented and dedicated faculty working through the creation of a new interdisciplinary major at IC that focuses on race, power and resistance, which absolutely will integrate the existential threat of our climate crisis,” said Collado.

Additionally, Collado highlighted that Rebecca Evans, Ithaca College’s campus sustainability coordinator received funding for a seed grant, along with a team of faculty, students and staff, to support the Chestnut Living Lab, a cross-campus project and experiment in environmentally friendly college living.

Lastly, Collado mentioned IC’s partnership with the solar farm in Geneva, in addition to a green e-certified electricity supply agreement, which has enabled the college to reach the goal of 50% carbon neutrality earlier than expected. “We now turn our attention to attaining our goal of 100% neutrality by 2030,” said Collado. “This is 20 years earlier than we had initially planned.”