Growing A Green Career

By: Deborah Sachare

Snowy weather didn’t stop Columbia undergraduates from learning about career prospects in sustainability. As Nemo began to blanket New York City on Friday, February 8, twenty students found refuge at the Columbia University Alumni Center where Rebecca Schnall, Senior Associate Director of the Columbia University Center for Career Education, was giving a presentation on green careers. This was part of the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development  lunchtime “Brown Bag” series.

Students learned about the different career options related to sustainable development and received valuable tips on how to best market their undergraduate degrees to potential employers.  Rebecca also helped students to uncover resources to gain experience and network in the “green field.”  Interactive exercises helped students to narrow down their interests and identify what sort of jobs they were interested in. The Center for Career Education offers many resources to students, including resume review, interview practice and more.

The Sustainable Development program provides students with the skills needed to address the fundamental issues of sustainability. “Brown Bag” events take place on select Fridays throughout the 2013 spring semester from 12:00PM-1:00PM in the Alumni Center located on 113^th Street between Broadway and Riverside.

The Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development is an interdisciplinary program that addresses sustainable development through the interaction between natural and social sciences systems. For more information, please visit our website or contact Program Coordinator, Jessica Sotomayor, at jsotomayor@ei.columbia.edu.

Deborah Sachare is an intern for the Office of Academic and Research Programs at the Earth Institute. She is a student at Barnard College and will graduate in 2014 with a degree in Environmental Policy.