Rachel Willis is doing fine, thank you, in her most-recent position as the sustainability coordinator at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. She ventured west after working as the sustainability coordinator at Skidmore College in New York State.
The career path for this 2012 graduate of Allegheny College wouldn’t have been possible without her environmental science coursework and a valuable internship she served with Kelly Boulton ’02 in Allegheny’s Office of Sustainability.
“I worked with Kelly to design and install a rain garden and develop science activities and lesson plans for local science teachers,” Willis recalls of her internship. “I co-facilitated a workshop with her and created the first draft of a sustainability admissions tour for the College. I am lucky to have Kelly as a mentor and friend.”
Willis, who was a history minor, said she made the most of her time at Allegheny, serving on Allegheny Student Government (ASG) and as a resident advisor to the sustainability living community. “My environmental science classes, time on ASG, my internship, and role as an RA (resident advisor) all gave me lots of practice working with different stakeholders across departments and identifying shared values and priorities to shift the campus toward sustainability,” she says.
Rachel is one of the smartest, most creative, most persistent problem-solvers I’ve been lucky to work with both when she was a student and now as a valued peer,” says Boulton. “She centers people and joy which makes her so much more effective at engaging partners, transforming problems into solutions and opportunities, and really helping people understand that sustainability work is about our connections, to each other and to our environment, and what we can joyfully accomplish together.
Willis, who was born in Charlotte, N.C., and attended high school in France, is the daughter of Cliff Willis, the now-retired director of major capital projects at Allegheny.
After graduating, Willis worked as a sustainability fellow and then as the sustainability coordinator at Skidmore College before moving to the West Coast. She served a year in an AmeriCorps program in the Portland Public Schools coordinating environmental projects. She also attended Portland State University studying Leadership for Sustainability Education and minoring at the School for Gender, Race, and Nations, earning a master’s degree.
“I worked in a non-profit community leadership position, and then in 2022 I saw that Reed College was hiring its first sustainability coordinator, thanks to student advocacy. I was excited to start a brand new program and think creatively about culture change and community care,” she says.
The most enjoyable aspect of her job at Reed, a liberal arts college with 1,400 students, “is working with the students and finding ways to incorporate art and play into our work together,” says Willis. “There is so much good work to do and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem, so I like to encourage students to identify the work that needs doing, what they are good at, and what brings them joy (taking note from Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson).”
Noelwah Netusil, a 1986 Allegheny graduate who is the Stanley H. Cohn Professor of Economics at Reed, said that Willis “has had a huge impact in a short period of time at Reed. She’s started several initiatives like the Swap Shop and is the lead for many events. I especially appreciate how she works so closely with faculty and students. She supervises many student interns and also oversees Reed’s Sustainability and Environmental Justice Collective, a place-based and integrative learning program she launched with Environmental Humanities faculty.”
Looking at the big picture, namely the number one sustainability issue that the nation faces, Willis says: “There are so many interconnected issues. However, a core issue is the deeply rooted belief that humans are separate from nature. This disconnect underlies destructive systems, policies, and economies, driving unsustainability at every level. We have a lot of the technical solutions to address climate change, but as long as this core belief is influencing decision making, we won’t prioritize solutions.”
Willis says she stays in touch with fellow Gators. “I’m currently in a sweet group chat with friends from Allegheny, most recently with adorable new baby pictures.”
