Dr. Mary Ellen Mallia has served as the Director of Sustainability since January 2008. Mary Ellen received her bachelor's in economics from Siena College and began her career in the financial sector, first at a brokerage firm and then in financial management at GE in Schenectady. She left that position to pursue a career in teaching, obtaining her masters in secondary social science education from UAlbany. She taught Economics, Public Policy and American History at Guilderland High School for eight years before returning to Siena to teach Economics, with a specialty of Environmental Economics. While fulfilling her teaching duties, she pursued her PhD at RPI in Ecological Economics, which she earned in August 2006.Outside of work, Mary Ellen has a deep devotion to nature, especially the welfare of animals.