About Us
Office of Campus Sustainability
Natalie Sobrinski
Sustainability Specialist
nataliesobrinski@muhlenberg.edu
Natalie Sobrinski oversees the co-curricular and operational efforts of campus sustainability. She is responsible for working with key campus and community stakeholders to create and support opportunities for outreach and engagement on sustainability issues for faculty, staff and students. Additionally, Sobrinski will complete institution-wide sustainability reporting to promote evidence-based decision making for campus initiatives.
Prior to joining Muhlenberg Sobrinski worked as a professional engineer promoting sustainability as an environmental and social justice imperative. She received her bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst, where she studied Civil and Environmental Engineering and holds Master's Degrees in Sustainability Design from CU Boulder and Higher Education Administration from Penn State.
Richard Niesenbaum
Professor of Biology, Director of Sustainability Studies
richardniesenbaum@muhlenberg.edu
Richard Niesenbaum is a professor of biology and director of the sustainability studies program at Muhlenberg College. He oversees the academic sustainability efforts on campus, including managing the sustainability studies major and minor, and works to grow faculty engagement within the sustainability curriculum. He is also the current director of the College's RJ Fellow honors program. Niesenbaum earned his Ph.D. in biology/ecology from the University of Pennsylvania, his master's in biological oceanography from the University of Connecticut and his bachelor's in biology and environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania.
Student Organizations
At Muhlenberg, you'll find a vibrant student community focused on sustainability. Join one of these student-run organizations—or start your own.
Mission Statement
We will investigate, develop and promote sustainability in our research and curriculum, administrative and facilities operations, campus community and other communities to which we belong, as well as in our individual behavior. We define sustainability as meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Vision Statement
We are committed to being good citizens of the Earth, and to making institutional decisions that are mindful of our complex relations with the ecosystem. We seek to minimize our resource use and to be good stewards of the natural resources entrusted to us. We seek to create ways to positively impact our environment. As an institution of higher learning, we seek to create a culture on campus that supports sustainability.
Values Statement
We believe that our individual and institutional actions can have a significant impact on our local, regional and global environment.
We believe that integrating sustainability into the educational experience is vital to preparing students for lives of leadership and service as responsible global citizens.
We believe that it is our responsibility as individuals and as a college to model environmentally sustainable practices, both within the campus community and beyond it.
We believe that good environmental stewardship is best realized through collaboration, when the diverse actors that make up a college are working together.
We believe that sustainability and good business go hand in hand, and that the ethical, scientific and economic dimensions of sustainability can and should be balanced.
We recognize that the notion of sustainability integrates economic growth and development with environmental protection and social justice, and we operate under that guiding principle.
