Aurora Sharrard
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Aurora Sharrard

Dr. Aurora Sharrard is the inaugural Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh, leading Pitt’s Office of Sustainability, cross-departmental sustainability staff, and University-wide sustainability strategy, activities, and partnerships.  The Pitt Sustainability Plan guides these efforts with 68 sustainability goals at the intersection of equity, environment, and economics.  The 2018-22 Progress Report on the Pitt Sustainability Plan is a recent, in-depth summary of their work.

Building on past progress and successes, Dr. Sharrard and her colleagues work daily across the spectrum of sustainability, including pursing carbon neutrality by 2037 via the Pitt Climate Action Plan, incorporating sustainability into research and the curriculum, partnering operations and research, transparently communicating progress, and embedding a culture of sustainability further into the University of Pittsburgh so that it’s a sustainability leader in every scale, from campus to international.

Prior to joining the University, Dr. Sharrard worked at Green Building Alliance (GBA) for 11 years, ultimately serving as its Executive Director.  She led the nonprofit in advancing innovation in the built environment by empowering people to create environmentally, economically, and socially vibrant places.  In her time at GBA, Dr. Sharrard co-founded the Pittsburgh 2030 District, which now boasts 550+ buildings aspiring towards measured high performance of 50% reductions in energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by the year 2030.  In 2014, the University of Pittsburgh was a Founding Property Partner of the Pittsburgh 2030 District’s Oakland boundary – and embraced 2030 Challenge goals University-wide in the 2018 Pitt Sustainability Plan.  Dr. Sharrard also led several GBA programs, including the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative (PCI), Higher Education Climate Consortium, Pittsburgh Green Story, Product Innovation Grants, and DASH: Database for Analyzing Sustainable and High Performance Buildings.

A nationally recognized green building and sustainability expert, Dr. Sharrard has provided strategic and technical support to innumerable regional green building and sustainable community projects, including the University of Pittsburgh’s green buildings, Hazelwood Green, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens; multiple Living Buildings, and many others.

Dr. Sharrard holds a Master’s and PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with an emphasis in Green Design from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Tulane University.  She serves on boards for Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services and Will Allen Foundation. She is also long-time member and most recent past co-chair of Pittsburgh’s Higher Education Climate Consortium and serves on the Advisory Council of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education(AASHE).

 

Aurora Sharrard, PhD,  LEED AP BD+C
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability, Office of Sustainability, University of Pittsburgh