The University will soon start a search process to hire a new manager of sustainability programs on campus, Vice President of Operations James Gray announced last week.

Gray will soon begin the search for this manager, although he did not specify an exact date when the process will commence. Gray will work with the assistance of a special committee, wrote Executive Director for Integrated Media Bill Schaller in an email to the Justice. The committee is comprised of several members of the Brandeis community, including Prof. Laura Goldin (ENVS), Director of Community Living Tim Touchette, Bill Bushey and Mary Sharriagn from the facilities department, and two students, Anna Bessendorf ’15 and Sophie Freije ’17. The Brandeis Sustainability Fund will not play a role in hiring someone to fill this position, but the new manager will, according to Gray, “work closely with the BSF board.”

The committee will help Gray conduct interviews and screen the resumes of potential candidates. The search committee will accept applications from candidates both outside of the University and candidates within the Brandeis community, according to Gray. The search will be conducted over the next few months with a “goal of filling the position this winter,” Schaller wrote in an email to the Justice.

The new sustainability manager will work under the executive director of facilities to reduce Brandeis’ energy footprint and improve sustainability on campus.

Schaller wrote that specific responsibilities will include working to ensure the reduction of energy and waste expenses, “coordinating the efforts of groups on campus to maximize sustainability activities” and coming up with new sustainability projects to conduct in the future.

The new manager will replace former Sustainability Coordinator Lea Lupkin, who left GreenerU, Inc., the consulting company with which Brandeis has partnered, according to Gray’s email. Gray wrote that hiring a new manager to staff the position internally will lead to “broader” and “more effective” sustainability efforts.

Brandeis has invested millions of dollars over the past few years toward reducing energy usage and improving sustainability on campus, according to its website. The Brandeis Sustainable Energy Program, which was implemented in 2012, has reduced carbon emissions and has saved almost $550,000 in annual utility costs.

According to Gray in an email to the Justice, the new manager will continue the various projects that are already underway on campus, such as renovations of heating and cooling systems and reduction of greenhouse gases in order to push Brandeis toward its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. This was a goal announced in 2009, and it means that Brandeis will achieve net zero carbon emissions by the proposed year.