Hirsch Named Director of Sustainable Communities Educational Initiatives Office

[Editor's note: the title for the Sustainable Communities Educational Initiatives Office has been changed to the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain.]

To implement Georgia Tech’s new quality enhancement plan (QEP) for student learning, Serve•Learn•Sustain, Georgia Tech is establishing a new unit within the Office of Undergraduate Education and welcoming its inaugural director. 

Beginning August 17, Jennifer Hirsch will join Tech as director of the Sustainable Communities Educational Initiatives Office (SCEIO). The office is part of the Institute’s plan to institutionalize Serve•Learn•Sustain and will be physically co-located with the Center for Academic Enrichment in Clough Commons. 

Hirsch is an applied cultural anthropologist specializing in sustainable communities. Based in Chicago, Hirsch has worked at Northwestern University, The Field Museum, and most recently as an independent consultant. Over the past eight years she has focused on bringing together diverse populations, including students, administrators, faculty, policymakers, and community leaders, to build on community assets to address community sustainability challenges. She also has experience in higher education administration, focusing on international and experiential education. 

“I couldn’t be more excited about moving to Atlanta and Georgia Tech to launch Serve•Learn•Sustain,” Hirsch said. “This innovative initiative is destined to become a national model for university engagement in sustainability, as an environmental, social, and economic imperative. It is an honor to be involved from the very beginning.” 

The search committee for Hirsch’s position included students, administrators, and faculty from all six colleges. 

“The committee recognized that Dr. Hirsch’s specialization in community sustainability, asset-based community development, and network building — as well as experience working with communities, municipalities, museums, universities, and business to address sustainability challenges from a socio-technical perspective — made her an ideal candidate for this new role,” said Colin Potts, vice provost for Undergraduate Education. “I am excited to have her joining the Office of Undergraduate Education.” 

Serve•Learn•Sustain is Tech’s new QEP, a key component for reaffirmation of accreditation in which a university must develop a long-term plan to support student learning that also reflects the Institute’s mission. Serve•Learn•Sustain will improve undergraduate education by developing academic courses and experiences that combine community engagement with sustainability. Beril Toktay and Ellen Zegura co-authored the QEP and are executive co-directors of Serve•Learn•Sustain. 

“I’m very excited about Jennifer’s vision of Serve•Learn•Sustain as an initiative that will not only transform undergraduate education at Georgia Tech, but will have a very strong influence nationally,” said Toktay, professor and Brady Family Chair in the Scheller College of Business. 

Ellen Zegura, professor of computer science in the College of Computing, said, “Jenny brings to the position many years of experience in the intersection of community engagement and sustainability working in communities such as Chicago and with universities such as Northwestern. The Georgia Tech effort will benefit greatly from her on-the-ground involvement with projects like those we will develop.” 

Hirsch holds a B.A. in American Culture from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University. Her doctoral work examined grassroots network-building across the U.S. South, including Atlanta and the state of Georgia. She also studied abroad at Japan’s Waseda University, and she spent three years working in Japan in government and business.

“One of my first orders of business will be meeting with people across campus and Atlanta to explore how sustainability is related to their disciplines, their work, their lives, and other things they care about,” Hirsch said. “Anyone who would like to grab a cup of coffee should please give me a call!”