Sue Fassler, the
Sustainable Facilities Manager at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry, discussed her experiences in the sustainability field on Thursday,
April 16, 2020 in a webinar coordinated by ESF Open Academy.
Ms. Fassler’s first job
in the field of sustainability took her down to Hallandale Beach in south
Florida, where she became the Green Initiatives Coordinator for the city. She
was the first sustainability coordinator ever hired by the city. Her role was
to create sustainability policies for the city, essentially from scratch,
culminating in the creation of the Hallandale Beach Sustainability Action Plan.
Ms. Fassler mentions several strategies that became key takeaways from her time
spent in southern Florida.
She talked about taking
the tedious and hard work for herself in order to give more enjoyable and
engaging tasks to the rest of the team. She mentioned allowing the team members
the freedom to create their own sustainability projects which in turn gave them
a sense of project ownership. She also encouraged the inclusion of skeptics on
the team and talked about how those who were, at first, most skeptical often
became the loudest advocates. Each of these strategies were successfully
implemented to increase engagement with and passion for the projects by every
member of the team.
Ms. Fassler went on to
discuss her work in Onondaga county as the Save the Rain Project Coordinator.
The goal of this project was to reduce combined sewer overflow during large
rain events through the use of green infrastructure, such as gardens and
plantings. With this example, Ms. Fassler discussed the importance of
simplifying sustainability data into visual and compelling stories in order to
draw more people in and make sustainability concepts and results more
accessible to the general public. Telling stories and giving examples of
success stories also makes the project goals feel more achievable.
After working with the
Save the Rain Project, Ms.Fassler applied to become the Sustainable Facilities
Manager at SUNY-ESF. When she first saw the job posting for her current
position at SUNY-ESF she didn’t think she was ready for the job. Ms. Fassler
pushed past her initial hesitation to put together the application, regardless
of whether she would actually apply or not, and found, in doing so, that she
was in fact highly qualified for the position and the more she thought about it
the more she wanted the job. Throughout the webinar, but especially when
discussing her job at ESF, Ms. Fassler encouraged us to challenge our perceived
limits. She encouraged us to approach all aspects of a position with equal
enthusiasm, even aspects which might not align with our strengths or passions.
By pushing ourselves past our perceived strengths, we allow ourselves to grow
and succeed -- not only in a singular position but in our careers as a
whole.
Sue Fassler received her
B.S. in Environmental Studies from SUNY-ESF. She went on to complete a dual
degree masters program where she received an M.S. in Environmental Science from
SUNY-ESF and an M.S. in Public Administration from Syracuse University. She is
currently the Sustainable Facilities Manager at SUNY-ESF, where she is working
to improve campus wide recycling and composting efforts among other projects.
While currently
postponed, keep an eye out for a presentation by Sharon F. Owens, Deputy Major
for the City of Syracuse, on local lead paint remediation, and speakers in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.
As part of the requirements in FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share the responsibility of reporting on speakers that visit ESF. The preceding was prepared by Megan Hazlett, a MS student studying Fish and Wildlife Biology and Management in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, and Arianna Wills, a MS student studying Ecology and Ecosystems, in the Department of Sustainable Management.
