Flosi named director of sustainability
Alicen Flosi, instructor in management information systems, has been selected as Lamar University’s new director of sustainability.
Flosi has taught management information systems at Lamar since 1999 and has published a number of papers, articles and books. She received her bachelor of business administration and master of business administration at Lamar. She also earned a master and doctorate of science in management information systems from Nova Southeastern University.
“My role is to facilitate projects like recycling, energy management and community involvement in sustainability initiatives,” Flosi said. “Eventually, things like recycling will become a habit at Lamar and we can turn our attention to other projects such as decreasing energy consumption, developing a minor in sustainability, and initiating outreach partnerships on the local and national level.”
According to Flosi, the creation of this position is a part of the university’s strategic plan to promote sustainability in all aspects of university life.
“Sustainability encompasses a broad area of activities, basically, anything that will help Lamar make wise use of energy and other natural resources and minimize our environmental impact,” Flosi said. “My goal is to increase student involvement and create a program that is easy to maintain from year to year while ultimately making huge strides in sustainability on campus.”
Flosi said Lamar can support the sustainability movement in a few easy steps.
“We can lessen our impact on the environment by recycling, reducing energy consumption and contributing to the LU Community Garden,” she said. “Also, students can join the Lamar Health & Environmental Education Corps, a student organization whose goal is to educate the community on the importance of healthy living in addition to promoting environmental sustainability in our community and beyond.”
The community can show their support for sustainability on campus and share ideas by following the LU Green Squad on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, Flosi said.
“LU Green Squad is simply a virtual presence consisting of students, employees, friends and families championing the sustainability movement,” she said. “Also, I encourage students to attend the upcoming Academic Lecture Series on May 5th that will feature Ed Begley Jr. speaking about living green.”
Flosi said one of her first priorities is to strengthen the recycling campaign.
“I hope that by the end of the semester, everyone on campus will look for a recycling container anytime they have to throw away paper, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes or aluminum cans,” she said. “We have a campaign underway to promote recycling on campus and purchase recycling bins. We’re taking advantage of students in department of construction management classes who will be helping build some of these recycling bins as their community service project.”
Seokyon Hwang, LU associate professor of construction management, said the bin project will provide students hands-on practice to apply knowledge learned in the classroom.
“Building these recycling bins is a great opportunity for the construction management students who have learned how to design and build various facilities using common construction materials,” he said. “In addition, this project will be carried out as a voluntary-based service project through which students will have an opportunity to learn their responsibilities to their communities. Recycling is one of the easiest ways to contribute to a more sustainable society.”
Hwang will also offer a sustainability course this summer.
“The course will help students increase their insights into sustainability which is a quintessential agenda of today’s society,” he said.
For more information, visit www.lamar.edu/sustainability call (409) 880-8612.
