George Washington University
IN-24: Innovation A

In 2017/18, the Sustainability Collaborative partnered with the Shenkman Career Services fund to to invite undergraduate, graduate students and alumni to the GW Sustainability Luncheon series.The Sustainability Lunches are a way to welcome the most innovative and impressive experts in the field to GW’s campus to engage, discuss and inspire attendees. As part of GW’s commitment to strengthening the overall career culture on campus, the Sustainable Lunches will have a deep focus on careers and pathways in sustainability. This is an opportunity for students to meet and network with other students, faculty, staff and guest speakers that share a passion for sustainability, and gain an insight into different ways in which in-class experiences can be translated into impactful careers for the future. In the fall semester, four lunches were held: Sustainable Development Goals and your Career: This was a discussion on the importance of thinking critically about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the workplace. Two staff members of the Sustainability Collaborative - Ariel Kagan, Senior Program Associate and Jenna Riemenschneider, Senior Research Associate - shared their takeaways from the UNLEASH Lab in Copenhagen, Denmark during the summer of 2017, where a thousand young people from around the world brainstormed creative and innovative ways to fulfill the 17 SDGs, including 4 other GW members. The discussion focused on how students could think about incorporating the SDGs into their own career paths. Sustainability, Urban Planning, and Transportation: How does sustainability play out in the urban transportation sector? Josh Lasky, Senior Project Manager for the Sustainable Communities initiative at LINK Strategic Partners, and Steve Taylor, General Manager for Lyft DC, facilitated a discussion about prioritizing sustainability in innovative business models, and listened to students' sustainability priorities as consumers. Social Justice and Entrepreneurship: Christopher Bradshaw, Executive Director of Dreaming Out Loud, a nonprofit in DC building a healthy and equitable food system, discussed using the food system to build equity and justice in DC. He is a social justice entrepreneur whose expertise is using social innovation through the food system to grow meaningful community economic development within marginalized communities. The discussion centered around community organizing and entrepreneurship in marginalized communities. Careers in Sustainability Panel and Lunch: The final luncheon of the semester featured a panel of sustainability experts, followed by informal discussion in small groups. The experts included Pari Kasotia, Vote Solar, Steve Taylor, Lyft, Trey Sherard, Anacostia Riverkeeper, and Stephen Walz, Metropolitan Washington Council of Government. Faculty members from the Intro to Sustainability course were also involved in the dialogue and discussion. Students were encouraged to network with experts and learn about different opportunities in the sustainability field.