Previous USU Sustainability Awards Winners
2021 Award Winners
Student Leadership Award
Sage Sutcliffe
Senior | Major in Human-Environment Geography | Minor in Environmental Studies and Sustainable Systems
Sage is passionate and strives to improve her own sustainable lifestyle and share her knowledge with others. She is a full-time student who has multiple jobs and responsibilities. Yet, she makes time to serve as the president of USU’s Sustainability Club and work in the Student Sustainability Office. Sage works tirelessly and enthusiastically to help students write sustainability grants to make changes across campus. Sage is truly a hard-working, deserving, intelligent, and sustainable queen.
Sustainability Educator Award
Courtney Flint
Professor, Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology
Courtney has helped our USU community become more sustainable through her teaching, research, and mentoring. She is part of the leadership team of USU’s Climate Adaptation Science Program, and Courtney has taken on an Extension specialist role to address the wellbeing and sustainability of communities throughout Utah and the Intermountain West. Her research projects about environmental-related wellbeing, water reuse perceptions, and human-river relationships are instructive about the connection between people and nature.
Innovation Award
Cristal Gonzalez Rosas
Senior | Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
Cristal Gonzalez Rosas embodies sustainability in every aspect of her life. Cristal and fellow interns worked with the City of Logan on creating a sustainability podcast and translating outreach materials. Additionally, Cristal was involved in Dr. Courtney Flint's environmental sociology project about wellbeing in the Wasatch. In her personal life, Cristal finds ways to live sustainably, creating small habits like reusing shopping bags, washing clothes in cold water, biking, walking, and showering with lukewarm water. Cristal shows by example that little actions add up to important results.
Advocacy Award
Rebecca McFaul
Professional Practice Associate Professor
Rebecca is a member of the Fry Street Quartet and a leader in an ambitious program of environmental sustainability. FSQ’s Crossroads Project combines science, storytelling, and music as a backdrop for contemplation of human effects on Earth. The quartet recently developed an online premiere to reach a broader audience without travel. Additionally, Rebecca has been instrumental in increasing climate awareness in the NOVA Chamber Music Series. At USU, she has been equally impactful. She helped develop USU’s Planetary Thinking workshop and the CCA Americorps Sustainability Fellow position. Her students cite her as an inspiration to shift from being climate-aware to climate-activists.
Previous Years
| Student Sustainability Leadership Award | Sustainability Educator Award | Employee Advocacy Award | Innovation Award | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Brenda Hawley | Doris McGonagill | Charles Darnell | Rob Davies, Unveiling the Anthropocene |
| 2019 | Dillan Passmore & Samantha Fitch | Denise Stewardson | Patrick Belmont | Jennifer Sapp, UCC Community Garden |
| 2018 | Paige Morgan | Heidi Hart | ||
| 2017 | Logan Christian & Emmet Pruss | Ryan Dupont | Zac Cook | Utah Conservation Corps Bike Crew |
| 2016 | James Wirth | SOSNR | Nick Flann | Ryan Reigle | Nahomi Jimenez |
| 2015 | Liz Kirkham Sodja | Swing Club | Ed Stafford | Corey Cozzens | Jacoby Knight & McKenna Lee |