Emerson’s Teach-In on Sustainability is an annual College-wide exploration of how we can contribute to a sustainable tomorrow through communication, the arts, and the liberal arts.
In 2015, the United Nations introduced 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a blueprint for a better, more sustainable future for all.
Here at Emerson, we’re on it. Across the College and around the world, Emersonians are contributing to a sustainable future in many ways, big and small, because we all have a stake in what’s ahead.
The 2026 Teach-In will be held October 15-17, 2026.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
7:00 PM | Environmental Filmmaking – from Concept to Screen, Bright Family Screening Room
Details to be announced
October 15, 2026
All Thursday events will take place in the Jackie Liebergott Black Box, Emerson Paramount Center
10:00 AM | Sustainability Communication in the Wild
This panel will explore what it means to work in the field of sustainability communication. What does the work look like on a daily basis and how has it changed? The conversation will explore career paths, audiences, and how communication is integrated into organizations. Together, the panelists will address Emerson’s institutional strengths and share how training for the future of sustainability communication will provide the workforce necessary for the continued evolution of the field.
Panelists
- Dr. Erin Coughlan de Perez, Associate Professor and CBF Professor, Tufts University and Technical Advisor, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
- Austin Crumpton, Associate Director of Climate & Health Resilience, Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Matt Heid, Senior Director, Strategy & Communications, Union of Concerned Scientists
- Moderator: Nejem Raheem, Professor, School of Communication, Emerson College
12:00 PM | College To Climate: A Practical Approach to Finding and Pursuing Your Niche In Sustainability
This session will provide actionable insight on what a sustainability career looks like and how to begin preparing now to work in the field. A panel discussion with three practitioners in marketing and communications within the energy and climate technology spaces will set the stage. A College to Climate workshop will follow, giving participants an opportunity to put lessons from the panel into practice. Finally, staff representing Emerson’s newly reimagined Career Design Center will present an overview of resources available here on campus for students to integrate career development into their academic journeys. Career Design Center representatives will be available following the session to answer questions and provide on-site resume reviews.
Panelists
- Jessica Harrington,Digital Marketing Manager, Heatmap News and Co-Founder, College to Climate
- Melissa Mahoney, Executive Vice President, Climate & Energy Practice Lead, V2 Communications
- Kristen Hawkins, Director, Sales Enablement & Marketing Operations at Sense
- Moderator: Nejem Raheem, Professor, School of Communication, Emerson College
4:00 PM |Keynote and Master Class: The Future Proof Professional: Soft Skills for a Sustainable Career
Suzie Hicks ’18 has spent the better part of a decade creating something that didn’t have a category, and they credit Emerson for learning how to pull the pieces together. Suzie Hicks the Climate Chick is a children’s series for four- to seven-year-olds that uses comedy, music and puppetry to teach climate literacy, and it has taken the Seeds of Hope award at the Climate Film Festival and the Visionary Film Award at the Portland EcoFilm Festival. Hicks was named to NAAEE’s 30 Under 30 in 2025, wrote the children’s book Zaynab the Great and the Giant Plastic Monster, spent seven years at a PBS Kids station in Los Angeles, and holds a master’s in Climate and Society from the inaugural class at Columbia Climate School. The starting point for all of it was an Emerson thesis they thought was just for fun.
That thesis became animation experience, and the animation experience opened doors in Hollywood. The years in between are a story Hicks tells better in person.
In this Emerson College Master Class and keynote to the 2026 Emerson College Teach-In on Sustainability, Hicks traces how the soft skills students worry they’re wasting time on became the ones still working ten years later, and where the climate work and the career advice meet. As they put it: “We need to recognize that we have to come together to change the world. If we focus too much on individual actions, we risk losing sight of the larger systemic changes needed to solve the climate crisis.” Expect a working session with audience participation. Thirty of the ninety minutes are reserved for questions.
Friday, October 16
12pm | Keynote Workshop Phi Alpha Tau room
Planting Season: The Future Proof Professional, Continued
Suzie Hicks thinks about a career the way they think about a garden. You plant more than you can tend, you water things that never come up, and something you don’t remember putting in the ground turns out to be the best thing in the plot. The day after their Emerson College Master Class and keynote for the Teach-In on Sustainability, Hicks takes a small group deeper into that idea. You’ll name what you’re planting right now at Emerson, sketch what the garden looks like if all of it blooms, and work backward to what that means for the next three years. Seating is limited.