Nilda M. Mesa - Assistant Vice President of Environmental Stewardship

Nilda M. Mesa is the Assistant Vice President of Environmental Stewardship at Columbia University. In this role, she works with students, faculty, and staff at all three campuses to lessen the environmental footprint of the University. Major initiatives underway include incorporating green building standards into construction and operations, including Manhattanville, green roofs and the area’s first green roof research station, the University’s first greenhouse gas emissions inventory, a surplus reuse program that keeps furniture and equipment out of landfills, recycling and energy competitions and initiatives, and developing energy-saving strategies to reduce carbon emissions. The department was established in the fall of 1996.

Ms. Mesa comes to Columbia with a variety of professional experience focused on the environment. Following her graduation from Harvard Law School, she worked for the California Attorney General on enforcement of toxic management and natural resources laws. As an appointee in the Clinton-Gore administration, she held several positions, including as a member of the U.S. delegation and lead legal negotiator on the environmental side agreements subsequent to the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As Assistant Deputy for environment at the US Air Force, she worked to reconcile training and airspace environmental issues with tribal governments, environmental groups and local business groups. At the White House Council for Environmental Quality, Ms. Mesa led an interagency task force on reinventing environmental review and permitting processes. At both the Air Force and at the Environmental Protection Agency, she helped develop environmental justice policy.


In addition to her environmental background, Ms. Mesa is an exhibiting artist and published writer. She lives in Harlem.

Responsibility for the stewardship of our planet is a growing challenge of our time. Columbia offers a world-class curriculum related to sustainability and environmental sciences. Outside the classroom we must think and work locally to effect change on our own campus. By working together to reduce our consumption of resources in the classrooms, offices and residences, we can begin to develop a culture of respect for the environment. Through shared ownership of local management efforts and participation in educational and action programs, we can take the small but necessary steps on the way to thinking globally.

This site offers an evolving catalog of the University’s sustainability efforts and the people behind them. It is also a source of green activities that each member of the Columbia community can undertake in places of work, study and where they live.

Office of Environmental Stewardship

The site is maintained by the Office of Environmental Stewardship, within the Office of the Senior Executive Vice President. Environmental Stewardship initiates, coordinates and implements practical programs to reduce the University’s environmental footprint and promotes a culture that values the environment and acts to protect it. Through a variety of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental working groups and joint projects with University departments including the Gateway Program at the School of Engineering, the Environmental Stewardship office has undertaken a variety of initiatives. The office works closely with students, administrators and faculty to achieve the University's goals. It also works with locally-based environmental and community organizations. It was established by Robert Kasdin, Senior Executive Vice President, as an outgrowth of his work with the Environmental Stewardship Task Force.

The Assistant Vice President of Environmental Stewardship at Columbia University is Nilda Mesa. In this role, she works with students, faculty, and staff on both the formal and informal green initiatives for the campus.