Media advisory: Higher ed sustainability leader will discuss trends, changes on college campuses

BUFFALO, N.Y. – As a 20-year-old at the University at Buffalo in the late 1990s, Meghan Fay Zahniser hadn’t a clue what she wanted to major in. Then she met Walter Simpson and Sandy Geffner, two mentors who steered her toward an environmental career.

“I would not be where I am today without them,” says Zahniser, who in December 2014 was named executive director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

She will return to UB on Thursday (Sept. 17) as the keynote speaker for the Fall Harvest Sustainability Luncheon. The event, sponsored by UB Sustainability, will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at UB’s Crossroads Culinary Center, located in Red Jacket Quad in the Ellicott Complex, North Campus. It will include a “Farm to Table Luncheon” featuring food from local farms.

Zahniser will talk about the sustainability trends and changes that have taken place on college campuses in recent years, and where UB fits in to those efforts. “It’s not just the importance of sustainability, but how individual habits and behaviors can make an impact,” says Zahniser, who held several positions with Philadelphia-based AASHE before being named executive director.

“Everyone needs to understand the importance of sustainability and how individual behaviors, in addition to advocating for institution-wide change, can have a huge impact,” Zahniser says. “AASHE tries to advance sustainability throughout higher education, so that students are graduating equipped with solutions to tackle sustainability issues no matter what career path they choose.”

At UB, Zahniser took an internship under Walter Simpson, the university’s former energy officer. “Walter gave me the understanding and the experience of being a sustainability organizer on campus,” she says. “The internship was an awakening for me and I realized I wouldn't be happy in my career unless I was proactively working on sustainability issues.”

Zahniser also took several environmental studies classes with adjunct professor Sandy Geffner, who helped students explore the outdoors in Western New York, as well as other locales such as the Adirondacks and the Florida Everglades. “He helped me connect with nature in a way I never experienced before,” Zahniser says.

Zahniser received her bachelor’s degree in social sciences, with concentrations in environmental studies and health and human services, from UB in 2000.

She began her career as an environmental educator for UB Green, then was a manager of community for five years with the U.S. Green Building Council. Zahniser also worked as a sustainability specialist for two years with design and consulting firm NELSON. She joined AASHE in 2009 as program manager for the organization’s Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).

Media arrangements: Ryan McPherson, chief sustainability officer, on site, 716-861-0128.