The University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute

UNH is home to the oldest endowed sustainability program in higher education in the United States.   It is one of only three institutions of higher education to earn a STARS Platinum rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), placing them at the highest level of sustainability performance among colleges and universities.   We are proud to provide the Lewis Family Scholarships for Sustainability Studies for students from Kensington and Exeter, NH.

Fiona Wilson, Executive Director, Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise

Dr. Fiona Wilson is the director of the Sustainability Institute and UNH’s deputy chief sustainability officer. She is also the Executive Director of the Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise, which offers innovative pedagogy, applied research, and meaningful engagement opportunities for students and faculty from across the University of New Hampshire in “social innovation” – the application of market-based and cross-sector strategies to develop sustainable, scalable solutions to societal problems.

As a joint venture of the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics and the Carsey School of Public Policy, this interdisciplinary Center contributes to the growing field of social innovation by working at the nexus of individual entrepreneurs and business models (traditionally the domain of business schools) with public policy and systemic change (traditionally the domain of policy schools) in their research, teaching, and practice.

Fiona is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability . Her research and teaching focuses on innovative entrepreneurial companies with business models that are good for “people, planet and profits.”  She is also a Faculty Research Fellow at UNH’s Sustainability Institute, and a Faculty Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

Prior to her academic career, Fiona spent fifteen years in the business world, ultimately as VP of Marketing for CMGI (the publically traded internet investment and development company) and prior to moving to the United States in 1993, Fiona worked for a decade for Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in London, England and Barcelona, Spain. Fiona serves on the Boards of Trustees of the Wolfe’s Neck Farm Foundation, a non-profit education center in Freeport focused on sustainable agriculture and food systems, and Meridian Stories, a Maine-based non-profit which uses the power of digital media to change educational effectiveness.