Alana Lajoie-O’Malley, ©UWinnipeg
Often seen on her bike, Rhodes Scholar, alumna and Senior Advisor for Research and Sustainability, Alana Lajoie-O’Malley, is moving to Canada’s capital to pursue an opportunity as the Manager of Outreach and Engagement for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Lajoie-O’Malley will oversee implementation of FCM’s member and stakeholder engagement agenda.
Lajoie-O’Malley has been part of the UWinnipeg community for 17 years. She began as a UWinnipeg Collegiate student, then became an interdisciplinary undergrad, before heading to Oxford University as a Rhode Scholar.
Between 2003 and 2006, Lajoie-O’Malley was a founding member of the student group that worked with UWinnipeg to establish a sustainability initiative and set clear GHG emission reduction targets. She played a key role in developing the concept paper that framed much of the University’s approach to sustainability and community engagement in the decade that followed.
In 2009, she returned to serve her Alma mater as UWinnipeg’s Sustainability Coordinator and has since left an indelible mark on the University’s achievements in this area while also working to support experiential learning and research.
In September 2017, UWinnipeg unveiled its second five-year institutional Sustainability Strategy. Collaborative efforts were spearheaded by Lajoie-O’Malley and provided concrete, measurable targets for improving environmental, social, and economic sustainability on campus.
Last year, she was awarded the 50th Anniversary Sustainability Recognition Award. Her tireless efforts to minimize our campus’s overall environmental impact saw the University cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32 per cent below 1990 levels— even with the addition of five new buildings.
“Listing all the ways I have been supported, encouraged, and mentored over these years at UWinnipeg would be impossible,” shared Lajoie-O’Malley. “I hope that in return, I’ve played some small role in making this an even better place to learn and work. I also hope I’ve motivated us and others to constantly do better at engaging in principled relationships with the people and ecosystems we are all inevitably connected to through our work. Universities remain critical sites for catalyzing the transformations needed for truly healthy communities and ecosystems. I’m so excited to see what new and ongoing leadership in this work will mean for the University and the broader community – there are good things coming!”
Her colleagues at UWinnipeg wish her the best of luck and know she will continue as a UWinnipeg alumna ambassador and a champion for sustainability.
