Executive Director for Sustainability
George Washington University (GW) seeks an entrepreneurial scholar who is equipped to
launch and nurture GW’s university-wide sustainability initiative. The Executive Director will
help GW become the premier university in the nation on policy and governance for
sustainable systems through practice, teaching, research, and outreach. This unique and
high profile position will be an influential voice in the realms of policy and public discourse.
With the full support of GW’s President and Board of Trustees, the Executive Director will
have a unique platform to lead this bold initiative.
As the leader of the university’s sustainability initiative, the Executive Director will leverage
his or her well-established reputation in sustainability to advance GW’s prominence as an
academic leader in multi-disciplinary sustainability education, research, and outreach. The
Executive Director will have experience in leading multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary
initiatives, a proven record of institutional leadership, and a background in working at
sustainability intersections such as public policy, governance, science, and/or business.
Working closely with the University President, the Executive Director will attract leading
faculty from a variety of disciplines to advance the university’s mission to drive national and
world-wide policy and discourse on sustainability issues. The Executive Director will also
work with faculty and staff with sustainability expertise to develop academic programs and to
advance grant-supported sustainability research.
The University
The George Washington University is one of the preeminent urban research universities in
the nation and the world. It is recognized for its excellence and programmatic strengths in
teaching, externally-funded research across the disciplines, and student engagement.
Competing with the finest public and private research universities nationally, GW is a
comprehensive university with broad responsibility for education at the undergraduate and
graduate levels. The link between teaching, research, and public engagement is reinforced
throughout the University and is a crucial element in the mission of GW.
With approximately 10,000 undergraduates and 14,000 graduate students and a full-time
faculty of 1,576, the University is the largest institution of higher education in Washington,
D.C. The University has three campuses – the main campus at Foggy Bottom in downtown
Washington, four blocks from the White House, the Mount Vernon Campus in Northwest
D.C., and the GW Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia.
The University has a proud and long tradition in the nation’s capitol. In 1821, President
James Monroe signed the Act of Congress that created The George Washington University,
then known as Columbian College, as a private nonsectarian institution of higher education.
The University was to become the fulfillment of President George Washington’s vision, for
which he left a bequest, of a great national university. The school of medicine was added in
1825 and the law school in 1826. Renamed the George Washington University in 1904, GW
has grown into a major urban university and center for intellectual inquiry and research. Its
ten schools and colleges, listed in the order of their founding, are: the Columbian College of
Arts and Sciences (which includes the School of Media and Public Affairs and the
Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration); the School of Medicine and
Health Sciences; the Law School; the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; the
Graduate School of Education and Human Development; the School of Business; the Elliott
School of International Affairs; the School of Public Health and Health Services; the College
of Professional Studies (which includes the Graduate School of Political Management) and
the School of Nursing. In contrast to many large urban universities, GW’s several schools
and colleges are located in close proximity to each other, facilitating interaction among
programs, faculty, and students.
The depth and breadth of GW’s academic programs, the exceptional qualifications of its
faculty, and the strengths of its research initiatives allow the University to prepare the next
generation of global leaders. By virtue of its educational philosophy, mission and location,
GW is well suited to develop and support its initiative for sustainability.
Sustainability at GW
Sustainability is one of the six core strategic initiatives at The George Washington University,
and an essential part of achieving GW’s goal of being the preeminent research university in
the nation’s capital. The university is fully committed to supporting the Executive Director for
Sustainability and to enhancing and promoting sustainability research, academics and
programs. Through its sustainability initiative, GW seeks to engage the world by exploring
the important issues of our time, including policy and governance for sustainability with a
vision to create resource systems that are healthy and thriving for all. Through efforts
underway in operations, teaching, research, and outreach, the university is committed to
being a model of urban sustainability.
GW offers a course list that address issues around social, economic, and or/environmental
sustainability. There are currently 140 courses offered on topics related to sustainability that
students take across multiple academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate level.
GW offers 40 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate programs in sustainability-related
fields across the ten different schools.
GW began offering a new 18-credit Minor in Sustainability in Fall 2012, open to all
undergraduate students. The Undergraduate Minor in Sustainability allows students to
explore the challenges of sustainability and to think about how to develop solutions to
pressing issues at the local, regional, and global scale. It introduces students to the
concepts, principles, and issues that inform the sustainability paradigm and will also integrate
classroom and community-based learning and research in a program that prepares students
to apply the sustainability perspective to their future endeavors. This unique pan-university
Sustainability Minor includes several innovative features such as an exceptional team-taught
introductory course, with faculty from several schools participating, and an experiential
learning component that will serve as a culminating experience for junior or senior students.
GW has substantial academic expertise in a wide range of fields related to sustainability,
including climate and energy, environmental engineering (particularly with regard to water),
public health, food culture and systems, environmental law and policy, energy law and policy,
green infrastructure, sustainable development, urban design, economics of the environment,
and climate change adaptation in developing countries. Immediate opportunities for
furthering GW’s excellence are in sustainability policy and governance and science and
technology. Sustainability experts at GW come from the Department of Geography, the
Department of Chemistry, the School of Media and Public Affairs, the Trachtenberg School of
Public Policy and Public Administration, and the GW Solar Institute in the Columbian College
of Arts and Sciences; the School of Engineering and Applied Science; the School of
Business; the School of Medicine and Health Sciences; the School of Public Health and
Health Services; the Elliott School of International Affairs; and the Law School.
Research plays a critical role in the academic experience, and GW is home to five worldrenowned institutes and programs that conduct research across the spectrum of
sustainability related topics – from renewable energy to poverty reduction. These institutes
include the Environmental and Energy Law Program, the Institute for Corporate
Responsibility, the Institute for International Economic Policy, and the Solar Institute.
Through practice, outreach, and partnerships, the George Washington University strives to
be a model of urban sustainability in the nation’s capital. From rooftop solar thermal panels to
a pocket park that captures and reuses rain water, to renovating historically protected
buildings to achieve LEED Gold certification, GW is showing how sustainability is achievable
in a complex urban environment and on a campus with historic buildings. Through the
Ecosystems Enhancement Strategy, GW lays out a vision to enhance the quality of the urban
ecosystem in which the university resides by committing to carbon neutrality, reducing use of
potable water and bottled water, integrating innovative design to increase permeable green
space, and monitoring global sustainability issues as we purchase products and invest our
capital. And finally, Planet Forward, GW’s innovative citizen journalist project dedicated to
finding the best solutions to sustainability challenges around the globe, gives GW students
and faculty the opportunity to tell their stories to the world.
Position and Qualifications
The Executive Director will lead GW’s university-wide sustainability initiative with the goal of
building premier university programs focused on sustainable systems. The Executive
Director will be expected to build and lead the pan-university research and curricular
components of GW’s sustainability initiative, and will coordinate with GW’s Office of
Sustainability to integrate academics with GW’s successful sustainability outreach and
practice initiatives. Accordingly, the University seeks an outstanding leader with a deep
understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in advancing academic
sustainability initiatives, who is internationally recognized as an expert in a sustainabilityrelevant field and who has substantial experience in institutional development and public
policy work. The ideal candidate will be a visionary, with strong leadership, teaching,
research, and administrative talents. He or she will use this unique platform to drive the
national and international debate on sustainability.
The ideal candidate would have the following professional and personal characteristics:

A prominent leader with a compelling vision for understanding and addressing the
multidimensional and complex challenges and opportunities of sustainability;

Internationally recognized experience in sustainability issues, as evidenced by
leadership positions, publications, peer-reviewed funded research, international
invitations, or a combination thereof;

Prior experience in leading multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary initiatives focused
on complex challenges;

An earned doctoral degree or equivalent and scholarly qualifications that complement
the University’s strengths in one or more areas of sustainability;

A significant record of highly-respected scholarly publications and research grants;

Senior-level executive experience in academia, business, or other professional
settings;

Strong interpersonal skills as evidenced by, for example, experience in collaborating
with diverse stakeholder groups, strategic planning and program assessment or
managing financial and human resources;

Commitment to and experience with successful fundraising and philanthropy;

Vision for building effective partnerships within and beyond the University;

High standard of professional integrity and strong sense of professional ethics with a
proven commitment to inclusion and diversity.
Application Process
The review of nominations and applications for the position will commence immediately and
continue until the position is filled. All candidate information will be held in strict confidence.
Qualified applicants should forward an electronic version (Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files
preferred) of their curriculum vitae and an optional letter of interest to:
Mirah Horowitz, Ilene Nagel & Mary Tydings
Consultants to the Search Committee
Russell Reynolds Associates
gwu.sustainability@russellreynolds.com
The George Washington University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer
committed to maintaining a non-discriminatory, diverse work environment. Potential
applicants who share this goal are encouraged to apply.