Company: Green Mountain CollegeGreen Mountain College Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. William Throop was elected chair of the board of directors of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) effective Jan. 1, 2012, during the organization's annual conference in Pittsburgh earlier this month.
AASHE was founded in 2005 to help coordinate and strengthen sustainability efforts in higher education across the nation. Since that time it has grown to more than 1100 institutional members and become a thought leader on sustainability.
"Bill is a true pioneer in the higher education sustainability movement, and it's a well-deserved honor for him and for Green Mountain College," said GMC President Paul J. Fonteyn.
Dr. Throop holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University, and he is a nationally recognized scholar in environmental ethics. He is one of the principal architects of the College's Environmental Liberal Arts (ELA) program, which combines a strong liberal arts course of study with a focus on sustainability and the environment.
Dr. Throop represented GMC at planning sessions for the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) at the first AASHE conference in October 2006. The ACUPCC has developed into a network of college and university leaders who are committed to eliminating net greenhouse gas emissions from their campus operations. GMC was an early signatory to the ACUPCC and became the second college in the country to achieve climate neutrality earlier this year.
"Since 1995, sustainability has moved from a fringe issue on campuses across the country to one of central importance," said Dr. Throop, who has served on the AASHE board for three years. "Higher education has a big role to play in preparing young leaders who will be making decisions based, in large part, on a sense of urgency about climate change and the importance of living and working sustainably."
