Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Sustainability Leadership Council

Mission

The Sustainability Leadership Council (SLC) works in partnership across Portland Community College and within the community to steer and implement PCC’s Climate Action Plan and uphold the college’s commitment to sustainability. At PCC, Climate Action takes a holistic approach, using adaptation and mitigation to support racial equity and social justice to create a thriving campus community.

SLC’s work involves creating culturally informed, culturally responsive and equity student-centered curricular and co-curricular offerings. SLC supports a just transition through green workforce development and models innovative pathways towards carbon neutral operations to build a resilient and thriving campus community.

The SLC works on sustainability initiatives to provide recommendations to the Cabinet and annual updates to the Board of Directors. If you are interested in joining, please send an email to briar.schoon@pcc.edu.

SLC Sub-Committees

Scope 1 and 2

Scope 1 covers direct emissions from college-owned or controlled sources, including emissions from the use of natural gas for heating, campus fleet fuel, and stationary fuels. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by PCC. Explore more about scopes 1 and 2.

Lead: Adam Holzschuh (he/him)

Adam is the college’s Energy Resources Manager, primarily responsible for managing the Strategic Energy Management program, utility payments, overseeing the HVAC building control system, and energy savings projects throughout the district.  Utilities include electricity and natural gas used to heat and cool buildings, water and sewer (including irrigation), and waste disposal.  He has a B.A. from Purdue University and 12 years experience designing and implementing energy savings projects on the East Coast before starting at PCC.  His focus is the education of facility staff, students, and continuously improving building operations.  He likes to spend his free time hiking, cooking, and wildlife photography.

Scope 3

Sub-Committee – Scope 3: Targets initiatives to reduce supply chain and solid waste-related emissions.

Lead: Jade Menchaca (she/her)

Jade Menchaca is the college’s Recycling Program Coordinator and focuses on outreach, recycling education, and overall improvement of recycling habits on campus through campaigns and special events. She earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon. She has many years of experience coordinating programs and events for higher education students to enhance their sustainability and involvement on campus, and created campus-wide food security initiatives. She is passionate about community involvement, social inclusion, environmental education, and waste reduction. She likes to spend her free time cooking, crafting, dancing, and trying out new restaurants.

Outreach and Education

Works to promote sustainability education and provide curriculum-related resources. Find more about outreach and education.

Lead: Briar Schoon (she/her)

Briar is the college’s Sustainability Manager, with a focus on mainstreaming sustainability throughout all college practices district-wide. She has taught sustainability courses at PCC and sits on the Board of Directors for the Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network. She holds a Master’s Degree in Sustainability from Arizona State University, as well as a B.A. in Sustainability and a B.S. in Justice Studies. She is a LEED Green Associate and received her Master Gardener certification in 2016. Briar has represented the college at the local, national, and international levels, most recently at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany! Prior to her role as the Sustainability Manager, she worked as the Sustainability Analyst for PCC, completing the college’s greenhouse gas inventories and STARS reports. She likes to spend her free time crafting, gardening, and playing with her kitty.

Resiliency

Resiliency focuses on reducing vulnerabilities in the connections between ecological health and human social systems. Incorporating resiliency into the 2021 Climate Action Plan allows PCC to center people at the heart of creating benefits and solutions to the climate crisis, ensuring that equity is a focus rather than an afterthought.

Lead: Stephania Fregosi (she/her)

Stephania is the college’s Sustainability Analyst, maintaining and tracking various sustainability indicators such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. She supports department leadership in studying new and proposed sustainability programs. Stephania holds a Master of Studies in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College in Environmental Studies and English. Prior to her role as Sustainability Analyst, she was the Sustainability Coordinator at Chemeketa Community College. Stephania has worked in a variety of sustainability roles including sustainability coordination, project management, environmental assessment, community development, and environmental education. She has a passion for social justice, equity, and inclusion and recently served on the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s advisory board on the Diversity and Inclusion committee. Stephania spends her free time with her family and dyeing yarn and fiber for other crafters.