Environmental Leadership Program
The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is a cutting-edge program launched by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The program is designed to prepare Illinois undergraduates for leadership roles in the sustainability field.
The ELP focuses on developing the students’ communications skills around environmental problems, mobilizing social resources, and implementing plans for sustainable change. The program also provides students with networking opportunities with leaders in various fields in the environmental domain. This will prepare students for careers in both the public and private sectors. The introduction of the ELP is one of the key educational objectives in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) 2020.
In Spring 2025, participants will learn about the policy-building process at the local and state levels, develop real-world environmental policy linked to the current legislative session, engage with local and state government officials, and present their policies to legislative staff and decision-makers in Springfield and Urbana-Champaign. The program includes corporate sustainability through a trip to Chicago where students will connect with companies in a variety of industries and discuss opportunities with business professionals who are making the decisions to implement sustainable change.
Program Details
The Spring 2025 program will consist of:
- Two-day intensive training in local and state government, corporate operations, and environmental policy and advocacy. The training will be Friday-Saturday, Jan. 17-18, 2025, before the start of the Spring semester. During these two days, participants will learn more about environmental advocacy, policy building, stakeholder engagement and decision-making for sustainable change. Participants will attend sessions about local and state government (e.g., its administration, operations, and policies) and corporate governance — and interact with other experts in the field.
- Weekly working meetings (between Jan. 24 and March 14) in which students will hear from expert speakers about career opportunities and pathways in environmental leadership, develop and refine their policy presentations, and prepare for meetings with legislators and company executives. Eight one-hour meetings are planned, several of which include presentations from guest speakers.
- Five days of intensive experiential learning with trips to Chicago corporate offices, the State Capitol in Springfield, and Urbana City Council. These trips are during Spring Break. Networking events during that time will help students meet with legislators, staff at state agencies, and business professionals. Travel expenses are funded by our donor.
Applications for 2025 have now closed.
ELP Advisory Board
iSEE is grateful to the following people for their participation and valued advice:
- Harriet Hentges, President and CEO, Hentges Associates
- Eban Goodstein, Director, Center for Environmental Policy and MBA in Sustainability, Bard College
- Doug Sitton, Senior Principal, IMEG Corp.
- Jennifer Walling, Executive Director, Illinois Environmental Council; read this Q&A with Walling about environmental advocacy >>>
- Jonathan Coppess, Associate Professor of Agricultural & Consumer Economics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Contact us!
For any inquiries about the program, please email us at isee-elp@illinois.edu.
Funding for the Program
The Alvin H. Baum Family Fund has made a generous gift to help support the ELP, including assistance for student travel expenses. Read more about the Baum Fund’s continuing support of iSEE >>>