Gift Boosts Williams' Reach for SustainabilityBy Tammy Daniels
05:05PM / Friday, September 21, 2007
 | | The Williams College power plant. The college has committed itself to environmental sustainability. (Photo courtesy of Williams.) |
WILLIAMSTOWN - A energy-production innovator Selim Zilkha is giving $5 million to Williams College to help his alma mater become environmentally sustainable.
The gift will fund the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiative, which will become essentially the core of the myriad projects and initiatives for energy efficiency and sustainability on campus, said Vice President of Operations Stephen P. Klass on Friday.
"It will be the central office for cooperating, collaborating, building and articulating our vision [for environmental sustainability]," said Klass.
In a statement announcing the gift on Thursday, President Morton O. Schapiro said the center "will work with students, faculty, and staff to incorporate principles of sustainability into the fabric of campus life."
The college's board of trustees in January made environmental sustainability a No. 1 guiding principal and set reducing the Williams greenhouse gas emissions as a priority. By 2020, the college hopes to have its emissions at 10 percent below the emissions of the 1990-91 academic year.
The target was set on the recommendations of the Climate Action Committee established by Schapiro in early 2006.
Staying Focused
The Zilkha Center is a concrete step toward that goal. Klass said the amount of activity on campus - the environmental studies program, the massive construction projects under way, current buildings, college purchasing, student lifestyles, maintenance, curriculum, waste management - make it difficult to keep everyone on target.
The center, through its director, will lead the development and management of a strategic plan and coordinate programs. The position will be filled through a nationwide search and will require someone with a background in academics or engineering. The successful candidate will also have to be something of a visionary - there aren't many jobs like this.
"We're on the cutting edge," said Klass, noting the college's Center for Environmental Studies was the first in the nation. "We're growing in an area that didn't even exist just a few years ago."
To keep that edge sharp, the center will be housed on the first floor of Hopkins Hall as part of Klass' office. Rather than have a large staff, it will use students and coordinate with leaders of existing departments and programs.
That's to prevent a bureaucratic mind set: "The more self-sufficient they become the more isolated they become," said Klass. The center will have to be accessible to people, be a conduit of information and do a "tremendous amount of collaboration."
Zilkha, son of a prominent Iraqi banker, moved to this country in 1941. He served in the Army in 1945 and graduated from Williams in 1946. The Los Angeles businessman has been a financier, founded maternity and infant retailer Mothercare Inc. and began investing oil and gas production in 1981.
He sold off his oil holdings in 1998 and began investing in renewable energy, including wind and biomass.
"Selim Zilkha has already proven himself to be an international leader in the environmental movement. He and his son Michael have pioneered the application of new technology to the energy industry, first with oil, then wind, and now biomass," said Schapiro in a statement.
Zilkha said, "I went back to Williams for my 60th reunion, the first one I attended. I was really impressed and decided to do something for the college. Because of my experience in energy, most recently renewable energy, making Williams a more energy efficient and environmentally sensitive campus was a natural fit. It's my hope that Williams will become a leader in this field, and that future graduates will benefit."
Students, faculty and the community can actually track how the college is doing by going to www.williams.edu/resources/sustainability . The Web site tracks electric usage, has energy analyses of buildings on campus and explains how the campus community can help the college achieve its goal. |
