In recent years, USF St. Petersburg has installed a biodigester to reduce food waste, unveiled a Tesla battery system to manage renewable solar energy and earned the highest sustainability certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Now a new Sustainability Planner seeks to help expand upon these accomplishments while keeping the university on track to meet its ambitious Climate Action Plan goals.
Winnie Mulamba began as the university’s Sustainability Planner on January 2. In her role, Winnie will oversee the tracking and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and other sustainability data on campus. She will also enhance coordination among the various student environmental groups to further implement green projects while helping to increase faculty research in this realm. In addition, she will build partnerships that moves sustainability forward on campus and in the community.
Each of these roles will funnel into an overall mission of creating a more sustainable and environmentally responsible campus.
“Sustainability is one of the core values of this university and I’m looking to advance and enhance initiatives that have already and will continue to take place here,” said Winnie. “I’m both excited and a bit scared to be honest, because USFSP and the city of St. Pete have done such incredible work already to improve our environment, they have quite the reputation.”
Winnie grew up in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi as well as in the countryside of western Kenya. She has three siblings who currently reside in the country. Despite being orphaned as a teenager, Winnie went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and upon graduating secured a job with a government agency that provided certified agricultural seeds to eastern and central Africa.
Seeing the environmental and economic challenges rural farmers were having in Kenya, Winnie began an initiative that brought small-scale and marginalized farmers together to incorporate sustainable farming techniques while enhancing their collective economic power. This included establishing coops and effective marketing programs for produce.
This experience stirred her passion for sustainable economic growth and environmental issues.
“For me, working with farmers and engaging with the community got me interested on how to empower small-scale farmers to improve their standard of living. It also led me to critically think on the future of food production and how it currently impacts society and the environment,” she said.
Several years later, wanting to advance her knowledge and expertise, she searched for graduate programs and soon discovered that the Patel College of Global Sustainability at USF Tampa was the best fit.
While pursuing her Master’s in Sustainability, Winnie was appointed the internship coordinator for the college. She helped fellow students navigate the internship and capstone process and developed partnerships between the college and local, regional and global organizations. She also organized the Sustainability Internship Expo.
Then to add even more to her busy schedule, Winnie sought to acquire project management and data analytic skills. It resulted in her pursuing a second degree in Management. By the time she graduated from USF Tampa, she had earned two Master degrees in three years.
Now at USF St. Petersburg, Winnie hopes to use her knowledge and experiences to build on the sustainability values of the campus community to usher in greater successes.
“I’d like to see greater collaboration with local businesses and corporations in embracing sustainability into their business models. They play such a major role in society and sustainability is an area of competitive advantage to any business operation, fostering opportunities for longevity.”
She added, “It is really an exciting time to be working in sustainability at USFSP and in the city of St. Petersburg.”