The Office of Sustainability was established in 2013 to direct and enhance the College's sustainability goals and priorities. The Office of Sustainability:
Leads efforts to reduce the college’s impact on the environment
Works with faculty across the campus to integrate sustainability into the curriculum
Educates students, faculty and staff about sustainability through events and programs
Supports and engages with existing efforts to collaborate with the surrounding community
Tracks campus sustainability data and publishes annual sustainability reports
The Office of Sustainability is co-directed by the Director of Sustainability and the Suzi Oppenheimer '56 Faculty Director. Also critical to the work of the office are our student SustainabiliTEAM Leaders and Sustainability Fellows, who work in teams to implement student-driven sustainability projects on campus.
Meet the Sustainability Staff
The Office of Sustainability is co-directed by the Assistant Director of Sustainability and the Suzi Oppenheimer '56 Faculty Director.
The Office also includes student sustainability fellows who work in teams to implement sustainability projects on campus. Each of these teams is lead by a paid Senior Fellow who works closely with the co-directors to set team goals, guide projects, and provide input on office decisions.
Margaret Bounds
Director of Sustainability
Margaret has served as Director of Sustainability at Connecticut College since February 2022, having previously served as Assistant Director of Sustainability since January 2017. Working with the Faculty Director, she oversees sustainability planning, data collection and reporting, and the Sustainability Fellows Program. From 2010-2016, she was Coordinator of Environmental Sustainability for University Housing at the University of South Carolina. She received a bachelor of arts degree in Environmental Policy from Barnard College and a Master of Science degree in International Development and the Environment from the University of East Anglia. She can often be found on campus pulling recyclables out of trash cans.
Dr. Doug Thompson
SUZI OPPENHEIMER '56 FACULTY DIRECTOR; ROSEMARY PARK PROFESSOR OF GEOSCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Professor Thompson started his term as the second Suzi Oppenheimer '56 Faculty Director of Sustainability in June 2019. As the Faculty Director, Professor Thompson co-directs the Office with the Assistant Director of Sustainability, specifically leading all of the College’s efforts to integrate the central tenets of sustainability throughout the curriculum. Some of these efforts include establishing grants for sustainability-focused course development, building collaborations with the five academic centers and various campus committees, and identifying and advertising courses and research opportunities offered on campus that are sustainability-focused.
Professor Thompson's research is focused on understanding how flowing water and the resulting turbulence influence the physical channel characteristics created by these processes. Most of his fieldwork is conducted in the coarse-bedded and high-gradient channels preferred by trout and salmon.
Our Home in Steel House
The Office of Sustainability is located in Steel House, which received a full historically-sensitive renovation in 2013. Manufactured by Chicago-based General Houses Inc., the prefabricated house was erected in 1933 for Winslow Ames, the founding director of New London’s Lyman Allyn Art Museum. The property was used as faculty housing after Connecticut College acquired it in 1949.
The Steel House renovation, which won a preservation award from The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, was made possible with grants from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), the Dr. Scholl Foundation, a family foundation, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, and a planned gift to the College.
