What is the Sustainable Leaders Network (SLN)?
The SLN is a group of sustainability-minded students, faculty, and staff from each school or administrative department at Columbia University. From collaborating on user-friendly, campus-wide recycling bin signage to piloting innovative green solutions in their offices and classrooms, members of the SLN aim to drive behavior change from the ground up across Columbia's campuses.
In September 2016, when President Bollinger announced the creation of the University’s first set of Sustainability Principles, he introduced a new forum called the Sustainable Columbia Leaders Network (SLN). The provost also announced the creation of the SLN at the Council of Deans meeting held on September 8, 2016.
The deans of Columbia’s schools have identified three volunteers from each school to participate in this group: one faculty member, one student, and one administrator.
* indicates Green Team Liaison
Butler Hall
Rachel Drogoszewski*, Executive Suite
Jamie Nash*, Strategic Communications
Campus Services
Bianca Tamburello, Columbia Dining
Daniel Lopez, Columbia Health
Emerald Curie, UEM
Janice Erskine, Environmental Stewardship
Kevin Porter, Print, Mail & Transportation
Matilde Gonzalez, Print, Mail & Transportation
Scott Buonomo, UEM
Sophy Ramirez, Executive Suite
Daniel Lopez*, Columbia Health
CUFO Finance / HR IT
Caryn Chen, Capital Finance & Admin Support
Cyle Timmons*
Meagan Arceo, Finance
Michael Roman, CUFO HR
Muin Alzougbi, CUFO IT
Earth Institute
Alix Schroder*
General Studies
Jessica Sarles-Dinsick
Josh Edwin
Max Ginsberg
Nathaniel Wilcox*
Noah Kutzy
Sean Trulby
GSAS
Allan MacLeod*
Mike Ford*
Journalism
Abigail Bedrick, Development
Andrew Rodriguez Calderon, Student
Justin Ray, Magazine
Lauren V. Meregildo-Santos, Prizes
Michael Krisch, Brown Institute for Media Innovation
Scott Osborn*, Facilities
Sean Murphy, Pulitzer Prizes
Susan McGregor, Tow Center
Ofelia Mangen, IT
Law
Anthony Pallone, Building Services
Ashley Marie Gregor, Student
Brendan Mallee*
Briana Florio, Alumni Relations
Frantz Merine, Information Technology
Hazel May, Registrar
Heath Mayhew, Law Library
Hunter Whaley, Law Library
Julie Anna Albarez, Career Services
Laura MillerFaculty Affairs
Marissa Litwin Zalk, Graduate Legal Studies
Martin Howard, Information Technology
Mary Lee Herrington, Career Services
Michael Gerrard*
Olati Johnson*
Susan Cersovsky, Admissions
Susan Kraham
Lerner Hall
Chanda E. Bennett, Student Advising
Cheryl L. de Moose, Student Advising
Corey A. Getchell, Double Discovery
Jesse Adamo, Undergraduate Student Life
Josh Lucas, Undergraduate Student Life
Juan Francisco, Lerner Facilities
Lorena Prosco, Lerner Operations
Marva Binns, Student & Family Support
Philip T. Masciantonio, WKCR
Richard Bova, Lerner Facilities
Sivan Grunfeld, Ticket Information Center
Taiwo Adenekan, University Chaplain
Theresa Delgado, Columbia College Operations
Mailman School of Public Health
Abigail Welbourn, Environmental Health Sciences
Amina Williams, Environment Health Sciences
Brian Brennan*
Bryan Burne*
Ebony King, Epidemiology
Elizabeth Tashiro, IT
Georgia André, Biostatistics
Gilbert Smith, Infection & Immunity
Heather Krasna, Career Services
Irma Rosario, Deans Office
Jenissia Jeanty, Sociomedical Sciences
Jill Baxter, Budget and Compliance
Kazuel Baily, Sponsored Projects
Kim Milan, Deans Office
Leila Arbaje-Lembert, ICAP
Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou*
Marjorie Perez-Richardson, Educational Programs
Natasha Sood
Nina Kulacki, Health Policy and Management
Rosa Perez-Maldonado, Educational Programs
Rosine Moussa, Columbia Aging Center
Shana Young, Finance
Yasmin Davis, Sociomedical Sciences
Physicians and Surgeons
Anita Patel, Department of Pediatrics
Erin Bailey Mauceri, Dept. of Physiology, Dept. of Pharmacology
Evgenia Berkovich, Division of General Medicine
Giselle Gonzalez, Ophthalmology
Indrajeet Viswanathan, Facilities Management
Justin Bernardo, Urology
Li Shi, Taub Institute
Lyn Goldsmith, Department of Surgery
Maria Batori, HICCC
Maria Diaz-Gil, Center for Family and Community Medicine
Michelle Leddy, Orthopedic Surgery
Neil Schluger*
Nicole Marotta, Institute for Genomic Medicine
Roxana Martinez
Sadie Maloof, HICCC
Sara Sternglass, Institute for Human Nutrition
Stephanie Blaney, Orthopedic Surgery
Wayne Tang
Public Safety
Ace Valentine, Manhattanville Campus
Alfonsina Rosario-Arroyo, Nash Building
Andy Sanchez-Sarit, Morningside Campus
Fulp Goudswaard, Medical Center Campus
Jimmy Lai*, Morningside Campus
Michael O'Donnell, Medical Center Campus
Patrick Danville, Morningside Campus
Yeiry Liriano, Manhattanville Campus
Office of the EVP for Research
Michael Shelter*
School of Nursing
Jason Wright*
Jean-Marie Bruzzese*
Josh Massei, Scholarship & Research
Judy Wolf, Student Affairs
Lara Philips, Alumni & Development
Mairead Moore, Alumni & Development
Mary Moran, Clinical Faculty
Matthew Richardson, Operations
Nick Burry*
Pam Pena, HR & Faculty Affairs
SEAS
Alexis Moore, Civil Engineering
Andrei Shylo, Mechanical Engineering
Ariel Sanchez, Chemical Engineering
Clarissa C. Pena, Computer Science
Elizabeth Allende, Earth and Environmental Engineering
Eric Ruberte*, Dean's Office
Fred Jiang, Data Science Institute
Gen Fleming*, Dean's Office
James Vicchiconti, Columbia Nano Initiative
Michael Smith, Civil Engineering
Montse Fernandez Pinkley, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
Natalie Chee, Biomedical Engineering
Stan Sakry
Susan Ceballo, Electrical Engineering
Svitlana Samoilina, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
Yosimir Acosta, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
School of Professional Studies
Colette Rodgers
Daniel Trotta
Studebaker Building
April Croft, Finance
Ching Gonzalez, CU HR
Jesse Irmler, CUIT
Jimmy Lucca, Facilities Operations
Kate Sheeran*, Finance
Mark Medd, Finance
Therese Horn, SPA
Tiffany Williams, MDG
Tom O’Donnell, Facilities Operations
Members of the administration, faculty, and students have collaborated to generate this Sustainability Plan, the University’s first, complete with high-level goals. This Plan highlights a set of strategies that departments, including but not limited to Facilities and Operations, will advance over the next three years.
The role of school-based actions in the form of policy and behavior change accelerates the University’s ability to realize its sustainability goals. The primary objective of the SLN is to engage a wide range of stakeholders from across the campus to collaborate in developing and endorsing a set of these actions that can serve to guide Columbia’s schools to foster a culture of sustainability.
Once onboarded, SLN participants use the Workspace Certification tool to drive measurable culture change in their schools and/or departments. The experience gained will help other schools to utilize solutions and document progress.
Environmental Stewardship looks forward to sharing the progress Columbia is able to make over the course of the coming years through this energizing engagement platform.

If you are a Green Leader, login to Sustainable Columbia Workspaces and complete your self-audit.
In support of the University's Sustainability Principles, Columbia is committed to foster a culture of sustainability. The Workplace Certification webform provides a checklist of all the possible actions schools and departments can take at Columbia to support the University's sustainability goals as outlined in our plan.
Each section of the checklist links back to the corresponding pages of the Sustainability Plan for further reading. This allows participants to learn the reasons behind—and the impact of—each action, as well as how it relates to the overall vision for Sustainable Columbia.
These are required actions that must be completed as you begin the program.
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2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards event was postponed indefinitely, and the last few months of the program were abruptly cut short as employees were taken out of the workspaces they were looking to have certified. Given these challenges, 47 teams (just shy of 40% of all teams) still managed to complete and submit their surveys for the earlier part of the year and achieve certification.
2019
On April 12, 2019, the Office of Sustainability recognized participants of the Sustainable Leaders Network Workspace Certification Program at the Campus Sustainability Fair in The Forum. Schools and departments were presented with certificates displaying the level of certification reached during this pilot year of the program.
Butler Hall
- Executive Suite - Gold
- Strategic Communications - Gold
Campus Services
- Environmental Stewardship - Platinum
- Executive Suite - Gold
Columbia University Facilities and Operations (CUFO)
- Capital Finance and Administrative Support - Gold
- CUFO Human Resources - Gold
- CUFO Information Technology - Gold
- Finance - Silver
General Studies
- Finance / Human Resources - Gold
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences - Green Zone
Journalism
- Prizes - Green Zone
Law School
- Admissions - Silver
- Building Services - Silver
- Career Services - Gold
- CCSI - Bronze
- Communications - Gold
- Dean's Office - Green Zone
- Executive LL.M. - Silver
- Graduate Legal Studies - Bronze
- Human Resources - Green Zone
- Library - Silver
- Social Justice Initiatives - Silver
- Student Affairs Administration - Silver
- Student Services - Silver
Mailman
- Center for Infection and Immunity - Silver
- Operations - Gold
- Sociomedical Sciences - Green Zone
Physicians and Surgeons
- Institute for Genomic Medicine- Gold
- Institute of Human Nutrition - Platinum
- Office of Development - Silver
- Orthopedic Surgery - Green Zone
School of Engineering and Applied Science
- APAM - Gold
- Chem - Gold
- Dean's Office - Gold
- EE - Gold
Nursing
- Developmental Psychology - Platinum
- H.R. and Faculty Affairs - Platinum
- Marketing and Strategic Communications - Platinum
- Operations - Gold
- Scholarship & Research - Platinum
- Student Affairs - Platinum
- Students - Platinum
School of Professional Studies - Platinum
Studebaker
- Columbia University Human Resources - Platinum
- Manhattanville Development Group - Silver
- SPA - Gold
The Forum
- Office of the President - Gold
- School of Nursing: Platinum
- School of Professional Studies: Platinum
- Butler Hall: Gold
- Public Safety: Gold
- Office of the Executive Vice President for Research, Low Library: Gold
- Studebaker Building: Gold
- Earth Institute, Hogan Hall: Gold
- School of General Studies: Gold
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences: Silver
- Campus Services: Silver
- Facilities and Operations HR/Finance/IT: Silver
- School of Journalism: Silver
- Law School: Bronze
Green Team Photos from 2019 Recognition Event
Resources
Participants in the Workspace Certification Program can download these resources to help them promote sustainability in their spaces.
Recent SLN News
47 Green Teams Achieved Workspace Certification for 2019-2020
While physical distancing necessitated the postponement of an on-campus ceremony, 40 percent of all Workspace Certification program participants received digital recognition this year.
Workspace Certification Program Sees Progress in Year Three
In Year Three of the Sustainable Leaders Network (SLN) Workspace Certification program – a checklist of actions deployed to make workspaces more eco-friendly while fostering a culture of sustainability – over 190 Green Leaders have worked toward improving their office or department's sustainability.
Sustainable Columbia Annual Report Showcases Progress Towards Reducing Environmental Impact and Creating a Healthier Environment
With a 47 percent reduction in absolute GHG emissions at the Morningside campus, Columbia has exceeded its goal of cutting emissions by 35 percent over 2006 levels by 2020.