Team Leader roles are paid positions.

• Developing agendas for weekly team meetings
• Facilitating each weekly team meeting
• Facilitating the team brainstorming process for identifying and prioritizing action and engagement priorities for the academic year
• Keeping the team on focus when actions and engagements have been identified
• Communicating with stakeholders who have the ability to influence the change we seek
• Setting up meetings with stakeholders and meeting logistics
• Formally representing the team at on campus and off campus events
• Writing a year-end memo of the team's accomplishments and impact for future teams
• Attending team leader meetings
• Attending All-Ambassador team meetings

Communication & Engagement Team Member roles are paid positions.

Are you passionate about communications for social change?

The Communications & Engagement Team Members will be embedded in ONE Sustainability Ambassador team each and advance communications and engagement with students focusing on that team.  

Responsibilities include:

• Attend weekly team meetings for the team that you're embedded in
• Maintain and update @sustainablenewpaltz with team-focused content
• Develop quality posts and stories with impactful "hooks" and "calls to action" that will be shared on main SUNY New Paltz social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram, and Tictok
• Develop quality posts such that C&E team members can "takeover" main SUNY New Paltz social media accounts from time to time
• Capture and edit posts, stories, and reels using your own smartphone very soon after capturing content
• Adding tangible value to communication and engagement campaigns that support significant sustainability goals
• Track activity and measure results of executed campaigns.
• Periodically review analytics data and measure ROI.
• Attend weekly or once-every-other-week Communication & Engagement-focused meetings where we share and positively and constructively critique each other's communications
• Attend communications trainings with professionals from the Office of Communication & Marketing.
• Research and develop new creative concepts for engagement through social media.
• Collaborating with other social media accounts across the University.
• Support in-person peer-to-peer engagement efforts pertaining to your team's efforts
• Compose email blasts pertaining to your team's efforts.
• Compose news releases pertaining to your team's efforts.

Experience with the free version of the Canva app is a plus.

• Attend a 3-day training from Wednesday, August 20 to Friday, August 22 from 10 to 4 pm each day.  
• Co-facilitate Welcome Week activities for incoming resident students on Saturday, August 23 & Sunday, August 24th in the afternoon 
• Tabling for 1-2 hours each Thursday at the campus market outside of the Lecture Center 
• Attending one weekly team meeting for 1-hour
• Following through with whatever responsibilities you choose to take on during the weekly team meeting
• Attend occasional All-Ambassador meetings throughout the academic year
• Attending events and programs that your fellow Sustainability Ambassadors organize (as your schedule allows)

Click here to learn why SUNY New Paltz is a part of the global movement to #breakfreefromplastic.

Past Progress

First established in 2019, the Beyond Plastics Team has had many successes at SUNY New Paltz including the following educational, engagement, and operational transformations listed below:

• Educating and engaging the campus on moving beyond plastics including hosting Judith Enck of Beyond Plastics as a guest speaker in the spring of 2020
• Switching from mostly plastic bottles to mostly aluminum cans in the beverage/vending contract (also check out this full case study)
• Adopting 100% reusables at Peregrine Dining Hall during COVID-19 during the 2020-21 academic year
• Adopting a reusable container program across most dining establishments - reusable containers were returned over 100,000 times in the fall of 2026 - a 96% return rate!
• Developing Beyond Plastics-related and other sustainability and social/economic justice recommendations for apparel and textile procurement and other products at the campus Bookstore. During 2020-21, sustainable transformations at the Bookstore included carrying the fair-trade Alta Gracia clothing brand and three new clothing products featuring recycled content and increasing metal (not plastic) water bottle options.
• Supporting the installation and operation of the College's first microfiber plastics filters in the Department of Theater Arts' Costume Shop laundry machines as well as in two Esopus Hall residential laundry machines.
• Advocating for the return of clothing, textile and shoe donation bins on campus to divert materials from the landfill.

Key past partners have included Campus Auxiliary Services, Sodexo, the Bookstore, Residence Life, and the Costume Shop of the Department of Theater Arts.

Past Progress

Since the fall of 2020, the Biodiversity Team has advocated for and/or organized:

• Promotion of the use of the free iNaturalist app to to engage with, track, and learn about life on land and life under water at SUNY New Paltz including the Biodiversity of SUNY New Paltz iNaturalist community
• "Leaving the leaves" each fall to encourage insect and soil microorganism populations
• Permanent "No Mow" sites including the meadow at the Gunk Pond and "Low Mow Spring" 
• Collecting and spreading native wildflower seeds in multiple locations across campus
• Community clean-up event in Parker Quad and around the Gunks
• Removal of evasive mugwort
• Salt management practices to reduce the impacts of winter salt management on local ecosystems and the watershed. 
• Maintaining/renewing the bamboo plant at the center of the Atrium and envisioning a bronze Hugo the Hawk statue at the center of the atrium

Past Progress

Momentum to become a Bike Friendly University first emerged from the 2022-23 Carbon Neutrality Sustainability Ambassador Team to advance zero-emissions transportation on campus.  The first stand-alone BFU team formed in academic year 2023-24 and has been going strong since then.

The Bike Friendly University Team has published a Bike Friendly Master Plan for SUNY New Paltz that includes concepts such as a bike hub, covered bike racks, more bike racks, dedicated bike paths and bike lanes, and more.  At least once a semester, the BFU team regularly hosts bike repair cafes to clean and repair student bikes.  The team meets once a semester with Facilities Managers at SUNY New Paltz to advance and advocate for infrastructure improvements to foster bike friendliness.

For all these efforts, SUNY New Paltz is now a Bronze Bike Friendly University.  Click here to learn more about the Bike Friendly University program.

2025-26 Climate Team Approach & Priorities

Do you aspire to a career focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the goals and targets of the New York State Climate Act aka the NYS Climate Leadership and Communities Protection Act of 2019 which calls for economy-wide 85% greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2050 from 1990 levels?   

We welcome student applicants from across the disciplines who seek to learn the basics of GHG emission reduction pathways right here at SUNY New Paltz and who aspire to apply this knowledge in their careers across diverse industries and sectors. 

We begin with developing a solid foundation of understanding of GHG emission inventories and data using SUNY New Paltz as a case study.  Once team members have a solid foundation in this baseline information, then the team works to reduce emissions in targeted sectors. 

All majors are welcome to apply to join the Climate Action & Climate Justice Team.  We especially welcome business majors from all programs within the business school, STEM majors as well as LA&S majors to join in this mission and this work. 

Primary activities during 2025-26 will include: 

• Researching global standards for GHG Protocols used by 97% of S&P 500 companies who report GHG emissions annually 

• Applying these standards to SUNY New Paltz’s annual GHG emissions inventory updates using SIMAP, the main higher education platform for publicly reporting GHG emissions 

• Reporting annually to campus stakeholders on GHG emissions trends and future opportunities 

• Increasing the number of categories of emissions that the campus tracks 

• Applying disciplinary expertise to recommendations to campus stakeholders to reduce GHG emissions in various categories based on student interest and expertise 

Past Sustainability Ambassadors who have served on this team have landed early-career positions working for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, NYS energy engineering firms as junior energy engineers, business consulting firms, and climate advocacy organizations. 

Past Progress

Since 2019, the Climate Action & Climate Justice Team has achieved the following: 

• Updating the annual campus greenhouse gas emissions inventory 

• Increasing the number of categories of emissions tracked, especially Scope 3 emissions 

• Advancing a Bike Friendly University as a carbon-free transportation climate solution which led to the formation of the Bike Friendly University Team 

• Researching best practices and pathways to Carbon Neutrality, including offsets 

• Proposing to the SUNY New Paltz President and campus executive leadership through a formal presentation in early winter of 2020 that the campus become Carbon Neutral by 2030 

Fall 2025 will be the fifth year of the Food & Hydration Team!

Past Progress

• Successfully advocating for increasing the variety of plant-based low-carbon proteins across residential and retail dining
• Featuring plant-based proteins from across the world during Earth Week 2022 and Earth Month 2023 at Peregrine Dining Hall
• Advocating for more Hispanic/Latinx foods that reflect the diversity of the Latinx community across residential and retail dining
• Advocating for general improvements to campus dining

Please do not apply to this team if you do not eat regularly on campus.  Students who appreciate plant-rich, low-carbon foods are especially encouraged to apply.

Sustainability Ambassadors have landed roles in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors including at the following organizations:

• Greenpeace USA
• New Yorkers for Clean Power
• Central Hudson (the local energy utility)
• Scenic Hudson
• The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
• Department of Environmental Conservation
• New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
• Brooklyn Solarworks
• Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics North America (climate campaigner)
• Curbside Compost
• Renewable Recycling, Inc.
• ICF International (green building consulting)
• DNV (liquid pipeline engineering)
• CPL (Architecture, Engineering, and Planning Firm)
• New York State Assembly
• Ulster County Legislature
• Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission
• Sustainable agriculture farms and farming associations in New York, California, Florida, and Alaska
• Cornell University's Water Resources Institute
• NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary Program
• New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
• Shirley Chisholm State Park
• Nature Center at Greenburgh
• K-12 Public Schools
• Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Hudson Valley Research Lab
• UNICEF
• Resilience Youth Network
• AmeriCorps NCCC
• Vermont Youth Conservation Corps

• Sustainability Coordinator (in Higher Education)
• Operations Manager of a compost company
• Director of Logistics of a recycling company
• Business Development Manager (of a renewable energy company)
• Farm Manager
• Farmers Market Coordinator
• Food Justice Advocate
• Food Access Manager
• Farm to Table Liasion
• Fisheries Technician
• Climate Justice Organizer
• Advocacy and Activism Campaigner
• Climate Outreach Specialist
• Marketing and Communications Coordinator
• Communications and Development Associate
• Natural Resources Assistant
• Program Manager (for a climate action nonprofit)
• Environmental Educator
• Membership Coordinator
• Elementary School Teacher
• Earth Science Teacher
• Biology Teacher
• Building Energy Efficiency Outreach Specialist
• [Solar] Business Development Manager
• Professor / Lecturer of Photography
• Senior Legislative Employee for the Ulster County Legislature
• Legislative Assistant (for the NYS Assembly)
• Clean Energy Educator
• Policy Analyst
• Water Resources Analyst
• Liquid Pipeline Engineer
• Mechanical Engineer
• AmeriCorps Team Leader

• Law
• Environmental Policy
• K-12 Education
• Higher Education
• Business Administration
• Environmental Studies
• Climate & Society
• Geology
• Food Studies
• Linguistics