Sustaining a commitment to improve
For a second year Sustainable Concordia held a gala to honour Sustainability Champions whose efforts and affiliations had positively impacted Concordia University.
President Fred Lowy was among the several dozen people from across the university who gathered to celebrate this year’s 10 honourees.
In his remarks, Lowy acknowledged the importance of environmental awareness, economic responsibility and social equity as the broad principles of sustainability. Lowy underscored the importance of these principles for Concordia’s Strategic Framework and in the university’s curriculum and research.
The 10 winners were:
1) Alex Oster, former Vice-President Sustainability at the Concordia Student Union, who now demonstrates his commitment through projects he has initiated in his position as interim Coordinator of Student Life Relations in the Dean of Students office;
2) Josh Beitel, who planned a case competition on renewable energy for the Business Beyond Tomorrow conference he helped organize as a member of the John Molson Sustainable Business Group;
3) Judith Walls, who has actively integrated sustainability into curriculum and research projects at the John Molson School of Business since arriving as a professor in 2009;
4) Susanne Dragffy, who brought sustainability principles into her position in the campus bookstore and applies those principles to her own life, relying on public transit and her own feet, spearheading office recycling and helping out in the Henry F. Hall Building greenhouse;
5) Laurence Fauteux, who has led a number of projects through the greenhouse including transforming the Mackay Street planters into urban edible gardens and helping to provide seedlings for community gardens around the city;
6) Satoshi Ikeda, a Canada Research Chair in Political Sociology of Global Futures (Tier 2) and professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, who has worked to raise awareness on food farming and distribution, including helping to support the Food Systems Project that led to a number of research projects and activities across the university when it was developed last year;
7) Yves Gilbert, who as Director of Engineering and Building Performance for Facilities Management, stressed the importance of reducing the university’s carbon footprint through automated systems. His efforts have helped keep Concordia the most energy-efficient of all major Quebec universities;
8) Martin Racine, who is a professor in the Department of Design and Computation Arts and founding member of Hexagram. Integrating sustainability principles into his teaching and research practice and assignments for many years, his work has been showcased on several print and television media outlets;
9) Gerry Barrette, who has supported environmentally conscious projects on the Loyola Campus through his role as Property and Operations Manager. He has integrated electric vehicles for groundskeeping work and supported the use of organic products for ice clearing on the campus.
10) Gerald Beasley, who as head of the university libraries has worked hard to integrate sustainable practices into its operations wherever possible. His support for Open Access has also helped the university contribute to assuring equality of access to knowledge regardless of affiliation or opportunity.
The event, held on March 9 in the Loyola Chapel, featuring locally sourced organic food and wines.
For more, read the Journal on March 21.
Related links:
• Sustainable Concordia
• Sustainability Champions 2010