Sara M. Cleaves, Associate Director

Sara M. Cleaves, UNH Sustainability Academy Associate DirectorSara M. Cleaves, UNHSA associate director since 2006, first joined the office as its Biodiversity Education Initiative and Climate Education Initiative Program Coordinator in 2005.

Sara works with administrators, faculty, staff, students, and outside partners in integrating sustainability throughout UNH's curriculum, operations, research, and engagement efforts. Along with planning, implementing, and managing UNHSA's communications and outreach efforts, Sara oversees UNHSA budgeting, staff management, and sustainability data collection and reporting, and participates in strategic planning and program evaluation for its four initiatives in biodiversity, climate, food and culture and for the office as a whole. She participates on NHPTV's "Planet Granite" Partner Advisory Board, UNH Sustainability Academy Collaborative Council, Undergraduate and Graduate Research Conference Planning Committees, Communicator's Council, Discovery Dialogue Committee, Center for International Education's Editorial Board, UNH Flexible Work Arrangements Task Force, and more. A Technical Advisor to AASHE's Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), Sara is UNH's STARS and American College and University President's Climate Commitment liaison.

Her past work includes teaching, research and outreach with the UNH Masters of Arts in Environmental Education Program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, and the New England Aquarium. A 2009 UNH Outreach Scholar, Sara has a master's degree in environmental economics and policy from the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, a master's in education from the University of New Hampshire, and a bachelor's degree in English from Dartmouth College.  A founding member of the International Environmental Communication Association, her interests include communications around sustainability; environmental psychology; motivation for engagement in sustainable behaviors; transformative learning; and higher education.

 

More Information

  • Sara contributed to the book "The Sustainable Learning Community: One University's Journey to the Future" (2009).
  • Read Hippo Press's "The environmental degree: educating the green workers of tomorrow" (October 2009) in which Sara is quoted.
  • See Sara discuss on WMUR Channel nine simple sustainability steps households can take (April 2009).
  • See Sara on NHPTV's "Planet Granite" (2009). (Click on "Sustain.")
  • Cleaves, Pasinella, Andrews and Wake. (2009). Climate action planning at the University of New Hampshire. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 10(3), 250-265.
  • Sara discusses sustainable holiday shopping on a November 2011 episode of the GreenScreenTV.

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