Hayley Wood is a new, yet familiar face joining the President’s Office as the Sustainability Communications Strategist and Administrative Coordinator. She supports Sustainability Coordinator, Cristina Bordin in all activities of Dr. Martin’s office and implementing strategies to educate the St. Edward’s community of university sustainability practices and goals.
Hayley is not a stranger to the St. Edward’s campus, in fact, she was a student here for three semesters before finishing her B.A. at The University of Texas. As an undergraduate, Hayley specialized in rhetoric with extensive study and research in contemporary environmental issues. She became passionate about urban/sustainable agriculture and spent Summer 2019 studying sustainable development in Ecuador. She is currently under consideration for a Fulbright Research Grant to return to Ecuador in 2020 to study smallholder farming.
“When you start inviting green actions and thoughts into your daily life, it creates an ease. Sustainability is a conversation, a movement, a mentality… I’m constantly inspired when I’m able help people find this connection. As an instructor, peer, or environmentalist, it’s important to partake in active listening and build a dialogue around environment that encourages vulnerability, confidence, and open-mindedness.”
Prior to returning to St. Ed’s as a staff member, she worked to build sustainable initiatives in her community with her former employer BookPeople. She established a Green Initiative in the store to reduce waste and to heighten awareness about sustainability gaps in the Bookselling industry and is a founding contributor to the American Bookseller Association’s Green Bookseller Task Force.
Towards the end of 2019 she completed a Fellowship with local non-profit, Urban Roots where she worked directly on an organic farm teaching Austinites about basic organic farming techniques and important local issues of food access and food justice. Hayley also has out-of-classroom experience teaching local citizens and college students about beekeeping basics; this year will mark her third season as an urban beekeeper. When not on campus, she enjoys all-things arts—whether that’s attending local music and comedy shows, visiting her local video store, embroidering, or playing her oboe. If you see her around the university, feel free to say hi, ask about bees, or tell her about a good film you’ve seen recently.