I am putting out a special plea to all of you most directly associated with these two programs to encourage your students to attend this lecture on October 26^th at 4 p.m. in the Dion Family Student Center by Jane Davidson for our Sutherland Lecture Series.  Jane is Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor and Director of the award winning INSPIRE, (Institute for Sustainability Practice, Innovation and Resource Effectiveness) at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Under Davidson’s leadership, INSPIRE won the  2013 Guardian Higher Education Sustainability Award, a 2014  Soil Association Gold Catering Mark for the University’s support for local producers and in 2015, the University rose from 113^th to 8^th in the UK in the People and Planet University League – the fastest riser in the history of the league – and 1^st in Wales.  From 2007- 2011, Davidson was Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing in Wales. She was the third most influential environmentalist in the UK for the Independent on Sunday in 2009 and has been Resourcemagazine’s no 1 and 2 in 2009 and 2010 for her work on waste. She holds honorary fellowships from CIW (Chartered Institute of Waste), CIWEM (Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management) and has joined WWF’s UK Council of Ambassadors. She is patron of the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) and Tools for Self- Reliance Cymru (TFSR).

Jane gave an inspiring presentation to our students in Wales during our academic study trip in May, and I think you and your students will all enjoy this opportunity.  Thanks for helping draw students to this lecture.

Best regards,

Jeff

Jeffrey Ayres

Dean of the College