Mary Allison Kane
Assistant Director, Miller Worley Center for the Environment
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Mary Allison “MAK” Kane is the Assistant Director of the Miller Worley Center for the Environment (MWCE) at Mount Holyoke College, where she mobilizes her understanding of student development theory, environmental justice and group behavior to facilitate the growth of just and informed environmental leaders, promote institutional sustainability and serve as the primary point person for MWCE student engagement and community outreach. She is particularly interested in storytelling as a tool for environmental justice and climate action organizing as well as implementing high-impact supervision practice to facilitate the development of action-oriented leaders.
Putting Climate Justice to Work: Field Reports from Community-Centered Campus Programs
This 45-minute field report explores how climate justice can serve as a design framework for student-facing sustainability programs–not just a topic for events. Presenters will share how centering community needs and relationships reshape how programs are planned, staffed, and evaluated.
We briefly introduce climate justice as a community-centered, responsive approach grounded in bottom-up decision making. This perspective shifts planning from “What should we offer?” to “Who is already shaping community life, and how can sustainability efforts be accountable to them?” Presenters highlight how teams can reflect the communities they serve, how collaborations can move toward shared ownership, and how outreach can engage people beyond the usual sustainability audience to create a more reciprocal and impactful community.
Through short, story-based examples, we share how this framework influenced partnerships, communication strategies, and program evolution in response to feedback. The session concludes with a practical activity to help participants identify community guideposts and potential collaborators on their own campuses.
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Mary Allison Kane
Assistant Director, Miller Worley Center for the Environment
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