The 2026 Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC), was held at the University of Washington in Seattle from March 2-4. OSU had over 30 attendees and 5 speakers! This year’s theme focused on intergenerational responses related to issues in sustainability, with two impactful keynote speakers: Aimée Okotie-Oyekan, an activist and scholar who addressed environmental injustices through a spoken-word poetic monologue, and Amy Bowers Cordalis, who discussed their Indigenous family’s efforts to restore the Klamath River. One OSU student attendee underlined the significance of Okotie-Oyekan and Cordalis’ keynote addresses:
“The focus on generational communication and sustainability was interesting to hear about and will be necessary for moving sustainability forward. Being able to build community across generations builds resilience. I came away from WOHESC thinking about the importance of showing up for your community”
– OSU student and sustainability club leader (Piper Thompson)
OSU had four student speakers at WOHESC 2026. Isabella Mitchell, Student Engagement Intern at OSU’s Sustainability Office, was a panelist for the opening plenary on the second day of the conference. Mitchell discussed her journey to sustainability and her current approaches to improving sustainability on campus and in her community as a student leader. Kasey Gratz, president of the Waste Sustainability Club, and Kaylee Smith, an administrative program coordinator, shared their approach to hosting repair fairs, a community event where volunteers share their expertise fixing various items, with a focus on repair and reuse rather than purchasing new items. Their presentation, Repairing the Future: Student-Led, Community-Powered Repair Fairs that Reconnect Generations and Grow Sustainability Leaders, emphasized success stories of past repair fairs at OSU, Central Washington University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, and the potential for scalability of each repair event. Tucker Kirkes, Planning and Assessment Intern at OSU’s Sustainability Office, shared his experience as a student intern using the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) toreport sustainability efforts taking place at OSU. He presented alongside sustainability directors at Central Washington University, Seattle University, and Portland Community College.
Two faculty members from OSU also presented at WOHESC 2026. Beth Filar Williams, an Associate Professor and User Experience Research Librarian at OSU, shared their approach to elevating campus sustainability through OSU’s Valley Library in their presentation Academic Libraries as Essential Colleagues in Campus Sustainability Efforts. Victor Villegas, the Broadband and Digital Technologies Adoption Coordinator at OSU, presented alongside University of Washington and University of Oregon sustainability specialists to highlight the emotional impacts and role of AI within sustainability higher education.
OSU alumna, Jillian Thompson, currently working with the Seattle Seahawks, gave students from OSU and Central Washington University the opportunity to tour Lumen Field, the stadium home to the Seattle Seahawks. Students got to learn about waste reduction efforts, recycling initiatives, and gain an insider’s perspective into operations at the stadium.
The Student Sustainability Action Challenge occurs each year at WOHESC. The challenge encourages students to brainstorm sustainability initiatives to bring to their respective campuses and then present these suggestions to a panel during the Action Challenge Pitch Fest. This year, 12 students from OSU participated in the challenge. Erin Trathen, MacKenzie Potter, Andrea Kloess, Sophia Waite, Maddy Cannon, and Nicole Cramer took first place, with a project focused on improving fume hood sustainability in OSU labs.
“Attending WOHESC this year helped me make new connections with people from other schools who are also passionate about sustainability. I also got to learn more about strategies other schools utilize in their sustainability efforts so we can try to implement them at OSU”
– OSU student and sustainability club officer (Emme Lurding)
2026 WOHESC was another successful year of engaging with like-minded, sustainability-forward student leaders, faculty, and professionals. OSU is excited to attend the conference again in 2027.
“The time I spent at WOHESC was invaluable for my career development. We heard from sustainability professionals about their journeys, how we can best learn from them, as well as incredible opportunities, like potential internships. I am so grateful I took the time to attend WOHESC 2026, and am excited about the new connections I made and to apply what I learned”
– OSU student (Xoxa Bell)
“WOHESC this year reminded me why I got into sustainability in the first place…Hearing what other institutions are doing makes sustainability work feel meaningful and possible again, and I’m excited to bring ideas back to OSU and implement into my own life and work”
– OSU student (Jamie McMurray)
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