1992 Alumnus Will Also Serve as Director of College’s New Center for Sustainability

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Weston Dripps
(AMHERST, Mass., Sept. 27, 2021) — Weston Dripps ’92, executive director of the Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities at Furman University, has been named Amherst College’s director of sustainability and inaugural director of Amherst’s new Center for Sustainability, announced Provost and Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein. Dripps will begin his new position on Jan. 1, 2022.

“The search committee was deeply impressed with Wes’s expertise, experience, accomplishments, enthusiasm and ambitious vision for what is possible for a center for sustainability in a liberal arts environment,” said Epstein. “Sustainability is at the heart of the College’s mission, and I know Wes will do a tremendous job of growing and implementing sustainability initiatives across the College.”

Dripps will report to Epstein, the College’s chief academic officer, in recognition of Amherst’s commitment to sustainability as a core part of its academic mission and practices. His agenda is ambitious. He has been charged with creating and supporting opportunities for students to engage in scholarship focused on a just and sustainable future; building collaborative relationships that enhance teaching and experiential learning; engaging the community in sustainability initiatives to inform strategic planning, management of resources, and operations and facilities planning and design; and helping Amherst move toward carbon neutrality. (The College’s Climate Action Plan calls for climate neutrality by 2030.) 

“I am absolutely thrilled to be returning to campus as the new Director for Sustainability, and helping launch the new sustainability center,” said Dripps. “I am looking forward to working with Amherst faculty, staff, students, alumni and community partners on furthering the College’s sustainability education efforts and initiatives.”

Dripps helped build the Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities from the ground up, and it has thrived under his leadership. A scholar and teacher with an impressive publication record, Dripps is also a professor of earth, environmental and sustainability sciences at Furman, where he has been extremely successful in bringing students into all aspects of sustainability work—from campus recycling programs to efforts to integrate racial justice with environmental sustainability.  

Dripps earned his bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude, from Amherst, with a major in geology, and went on to receive an M.S. degree in earth sciences from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has worked as an exploration geologist in the oil, gas and water sector; an environmental consultant; a hydrogeologist; a high school teacher; and an outdoor educator in the Swiss Alps.  Before coming to Furman in 2005, Dripps was a researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and an assistant professor of hydrogeology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.


The mission of the Center for Sustainability will be to facilitate academic and applied experiences for students in service of developing knowledge across disciplines to inform sustainable decisions and action. The center will also support faculty in their efforts to integrate sustainability into the curriculum and research.  By leveraging Amherst’s sustainable operational practices, experiential learning opportunities will be created for Amherst students.  The center will promote institutional innovation and action in support of the College’s sustainability commitment, and will strive to foster a more equitable world through its initiatives and programming.  It will also make use of sustainability program initiatives to create knowledge, awareness, and a commitment to life-long responsible environmental citizenry and social justice.  

Amherst College prepares students to use ideas to make a difference in the world. Since its founding, in 1821, in Western Massachusetts, Amherst has demonstrated steadfast confidence in the value of the liberal arts and the importance of critical thinking. Today, its financial aid program is among the most substantial in the nation, and its student body is among the most diverse. Small classes, an open curriculum and a singular focus on undergraduate education ensure that leading scholars engage daily with talented, curious students, equipping them for leadership in an increasingly global and complex world.