The Office of Sustainability maintains a lean staff. Currently we have seven regular staff positions totaling 7 FTE. Additionally, we employ approximately 30 students annually who do short-term and/or part-time field work in support of our co-curricular programs. Finally, we receive accounting and budgeting support from Finance and Administration Shared Services (FASS).
Cimmeron Gillespie, Surplus Property and Waste Reduction Specialist
Contact Cimmeron about: Surplus furniture program and waste/reuse/recycling initiatives; greenhouse gas reporting; Materials Tracking reporting (material solid waste); Sustainability Dashboard data and maintenance; LEED education programming (tours and online information); orientation or peer-to-peer education meet-ups; Bike Friendly University; and Zero Waste education and outreach, including signage, tours, class presentations, and residence hall waste reduction presentations.
Office phone: 541-346-1577
Fun Fact: I regularly bike commute to work!
Bio: Cimmeron joined the Office of Sustainability in 2019. He manages the UO Surplus Furniture Program, and handles data analysis and reporting for the office as well as education and outreach and social media coordination. He is also a master's student in the PPPM program.
Ryan Haag, Energy Analyst
Contact Ryan about: Campus, Plant or Building Energy Analysis and Reporting; Assistance in managing opportunity, risk, cost and budgeting for campus utilities; Project proposals for the Campus Energy Revolving Fund; Campus Utility Metering Program; Energy performance verification for Campus Energy Conservation Measures
Email: rghaag@uoregon.edu
Office phone: 541-346-2261
Fun Facts: Ryan is writing his first novel and enjoys doing some art in his spare time.
Bio: Ryan has worked in the Energy Management Program since 2019 after earning an associate degree in Energy Management from Lane Community College. He has been engaged with climate issues since 2010 which led him to his current focus on energy management and efficiency. He enjoys optimizing building energy systems and finding opportunities to further reduce campus consumption of resources. Ryan earned his bachelor’s degree in art from St. Olaf College and was a Project Coordinator for an arts foundation for years.
Emily Hamblen, Campus Natural Areas Steward
Contact Emily about: Research, restoration, and educational opportunities on campus natural areas, including the Willamette River Natural Area.
Email: ehamblen@uoregon.edu
Office phone: 541-207-7799
Fun Facts: In her free time, Emily enjoys skiing, hiking, live music and playing the ukulele.
Bio: As Natural Areas Steward, Emily manages the restoration, education, and research in the Willamette River Natural Area and other campus natural areas in collaborations with faculty, staff, and external partners. As an Oregon Native, Emily is excited to use her 20+ years of experience to give back to the community that she grew up in. She started her journey at Lane Community College, followed by a dual Major in Wildlife and Conservation and Zoology (Oregon State University) and M.Sc. in Wildlife and Conservation Biology (Colorado State University).
Madeline Jonas-Lowery, Energy Program Specialist
Contact Madeline about: Building/Campus/Central Plant utility cost/consumption data; monthly building utility reports; utility billing statements; building utility metering; energy performance monitoring, verification and analysis; building HVAC system performance diagnostics and analysis; energy dashboards.
Email: mjonas2@uoregon.edu
Office phone: 541-346-3460
Fun Facts: Madeline enjoys biking to work, working out, reading, and nature.
Bio: Madeline is pursuing her Energy Management with Building Controls degree after making a career switch from education where she worked as a special education teacher. She earned her master’s in special education and bachelor’s in sociology from UO.
Steve Mital, Director
Contact Steve about: UO’s Climate Action Plan, the thermal transition taskforce and studies, overlaps between energy and sustainability, new initiatives, research project ideas, troubleshooting, and media requests.
Office phone: 541-346-0709
Bio: Steve Mital is the founding director of the University of Oregon’s Sustainability Office and also directs the Utilities and Energy office. He was part of the three-person team that developed the Oregon Model for Sustainable Development, a landmark campus energy policy that required all new buildings to harvest 100% of their energy needs from existing building stock. He also led the initiative to create the Oregon Leadership in Sustainability graduate certificate program that launched in 2011. Prior to this position, Steve was an instructor in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Oregon, where he also studied. While there, he founded and directed the Environmental Leadership Program for graduate and undergraduate students. Steve spent eight years as one of five Commissioners elected to govern the Eugene Water and Electric Board. He is currently on the Lane Community College’s Board of Trustees.
Sarah Stoeckl, Associate Director
Office phone: 541-346-3489
Bio: Sarah manages the office's academic, co-curricular, and community outreach and engagement programming, and leads the outreach, engagement, and education team. Before joining the Office of Sustainability, she was a Senior Project Manager at the International Society for Technology in Education, focused on projects and programs that support the meaningful use of technology for learning. She earned her PhD in Literature from UO and her research focused on how narratives after the First World War manifested, but failed to resolve, the conflict's trauma and grief. She has since extended that overarching curiosity about the cultural and affective consequences of rupture, change, and traumatic events to the climate crisis.