To: Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Announcing the Launch of the Paulson Initiative
Date: September 7, 2017
I am pleased to announce that the College will celebrate a campuswide event, Sustainability Day, on Monday, September 11, to inaugurate the Wendy Judge Paulson ’69 Ecology of Place Initiative and simultaneously kick off the Year of Sustainability at Wellesley. It will be an important day for us to gather as a community to learn how we can get involved in the innovative Paulson Initiative as well as rededicate ourselves to the stewardship of our home and to the ecological responsibility that we share.
Please join me at a community reception that the College will be hosting that afternoon, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the Alumnae Hall Ballroom. We will sample locally sourced foods and share conversation with special guests Wendy Paulson ’69; Suzanne Langridge, director of the Paulson Initiative; and conservationist, author, and activist Terry Tempest Williams.
I am proud to launch the Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative at Wellesley, and I am grateful to the visionary leadership of Wendy Paulson, who made this forward-looking approach possible. The Paulson Initiative will help us better understand and relate to our natural environment, transforming our campus into a “living laboratory” of key ecosystems for cross-disciplinary research, art, reflection, and a range of curricular and co-curricular activities.
Many of the activities planned for September 11 will offer opportunities for us to engage with our campus landscape and experience it in new ways, and to enjoy the special relationship we have with the living world around us. Some of the events are scheduled at set times; for others, you are invited to drop in for a few minutes.
The community event also officially kicks off the 2017–18 Year of Sustainability at Wellesley College, which will engage students, staff, and faculty in conversations about what sustainability means to us as individuals and as an academic and residential community. You will hear more about the Year of Sustainability in the weeks and months ahead.
Both the Paulson Initiative and the Year of Sustainability will help prepare our students to be active, engaged, and environmentally aware global citizens.
I look forward to seeing you at the community reception.
