Student Groups
Undergraduate: Student Sustainability Association at Penn (SSAP)
As the official umbrella group of environmental sustainability student groups on campus, the Student Sustainability Association at Penn (SSAP) was founded in 2010 to foster cohesion among environmentally-focused student groups, develop strategies for impacting campus sustainability, and create a unified student voice on green issues at Penn.
As the student environmental community has grown immensely since the 2009 launch of Penn's Climate Action Plan, SSAP helps to foster increased collaboration among the 17+ student environmental groups on campus and between students, staff, and faculty working on environmental issues. In addition, SSAP also provides funding and support to both constituents and non-constituent groups to further their work on sustainability issues.
SSAP is currently a member of University Council, UA Steering, and University Life, meeting regularly with leaders of other organizations on campus to create meaningful partnerships with student government.
SSAP Constituent Groups
SSAP constituents include Penn Environmental Group, Penn Vegan Society, Penn Outdoors Club, Fossil Free Penn, Penn Beekeeping Club, and many more! Please click here for the complete list of members as well as more information about these groups. Applications for constituent groups are put up to a vote by all member groups on a rolling basis. SSAP welcomes any group connected to environmental, economic, or social sustainability.
Contact Us
For more information and/or to subscribe to the SSAP listserv, please visit the SSAP website.
Follow SSAP on Facebook and Instagram.
Graduate Student Opportunities
Climate Leaders @ Penn
Climate Leaders @ Penn is a community of graduate students across the University of Pennsylvania who are interested in addressing climate change and seek to connect with like-minded peers. Climate change is a complex issue that requires an interdisciplinary set of solutions. Graduate students have the training and networks to leverage the university’s resources to build and implement solutions. CL@P's ten-year vision is to enable Penn to equip students to lead and innovate and become a research university at the forefront of making climate change an interdisciplinary issue.
To learn more, visit the Climate Leaders @ Penn website.
American Water Works Association PENN Student Chapter (School of Arts and Sciences, MSAG)
The American Water Works Association University of Pennsylvania Student Chapter is dedicated to engaging the Philadelphia community to develop integrated and innovative strategies for addressing the city's public health, infrastructure, and long-term water sustainability. With interests ranging from hydrology, geology, geochemistry and environmental contamination, we are excited to expand our knowledge of water resources through our collaborative efforts with AWWA.
Contact Hannah New at hnew@sas.upenn.edu for more information.
Environmental Law Project (Penn Law)
The Environmental Law Project (ELP) fosters campus discussion of environmental issues and connects interested students to opportunities to explore environmental legal practice. Our volunteer work falls into two projects: impact litigation and regulation. Our impact litigation work generally involves preparing legal research and reports for local and national environmental organizations. Our regulatory project develops comments on proposed federal administrative rulemakings in the environmental space that are ultimately published in the Federal Register. In past years, we have also sent teams to environmental moot court competitions, hosted campus talks and green career panels, and begun coordinating our efforts with other environmental organizations at Penn. EarthJustice International, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, PennFuture, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network are among the organizations ELP has worked with in the past.
To learn more, reach their leadership at elp.pennlaw@gmail.com.
Healthcare Sustainability Group (Perelman School of Medicine)
The Healthcare Sustainability Group aims to educate future leaders in healthcare about the detrimental environmental effects of current practices and to introduce potential methods to improve the environmental impact of the healthcare industry. Our goal is to get students from a variety of backgrounds to begin to discuss the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable practices. We want future physicians and hospital executives to prioritize environmental sustainability and to innovate new ways to improve our environmental impact. We also work to educate future clinicians about the impacts of climate change on health & healthcare and to promote commitment to planetary health at the medical school.
To learn more, contact Genny Silva (genevieve.silva@pennmedicine.upenn.edu) and Jeromy Gotschall (jeromy.gotschall@pennmedicine.upenn.edu).
Land Use and Environmental Planning Club (Stuart Weitzman School of Design)
The Land Use and Environmental Planning Club connects students in the PennDesign community to local programs, practitioners, and projects that focus on environmental and sustainability issues related to planning. The club invites professionals who work at the intersection of the built and natural environments to speak on campus and organizes other events such as group discussions and happy hours to provide a space to talk with others interested in the field! We welcome all students at PennDesign to participate in the club’s events, as well as students in other graduate schools across Penn.
For more information, reach out to Co-President Katie Lample at klample@design.edu.
One Health Club (Penn Vet)
To learn more, contact Environmental and Sustainability Chair Charlotte Weisberg at clw217@vet.upenn.edu.
Penn Dental Sustainability (Penn Dental Medicine)
To learn more, contact Vice President Cailey Treyz at ctreyz@dental.upenn.edu.
Penn Design Real Estate Club (Stuart Weitzman School of Design)
The Stuart Weitzman School of Design Real Estate Club provides members with direct links to professionals in the real estate and development industry, who are dedicated to creating an economically stronger and more sustainable world, by hosting guest speakers, visiting development sites, leading peer-to-peer knowledge sessions, and encouraging networking between programs at Penn and beyond.
For more information, contact Co-Presidents Laure Wassen and Tobin Stuff at lwassen@design.upenn.edu and tstuff@design.upenn.edu, respectively.
Penn Transportation Club (Stuart Weitzman School of Design)
Penn Transportation Club serves as a platform that facilitates conversation between students in PennDesign, students in other schools at the University of Pennsylvania and professionals in the transportation field. Penn Transportation Club aims to expose students to the latest transportation trends and ideas across academic and professional settings, in addition to the connections between transportation and other fields, and it does so by hosting speakers from within the public and private sectors on a regular basis throughout the academic year. In addition, site visits and tours offer students the opportunity to learn about ongoing as well as completed transportation projects in the greater Philadelphia area.
To learn more, contact transportationpenn@gmail.com.
Sustainable Business Coalition (Wharton)
The Wharton Sustainable Business Coalition seeks to inspire MBA students on how to integrate sustainability into their personal lives and professional journeys. To accomplish this, the Sustainable Business Coalition educates fellow students around the business case for sustainability and connects them with career opportunities that incorporate sustainability as a key pillar.
To learn more, contact President Katie Gardner at gardnerk@wharton.upenn.edu.
Wharton Global Impact Consultants (Wharton)
WGIC is a non-profit, student-run organization at The Wharton School whose mission is to utilize its members' business skills to benefit those in need throughout the world. Each year, WGIC sends teams of Wharton MBA students overseas to work for two to is to utilize its members' business skills to benefit those in need throughout the four weeks on development projects in emerging economies.
Reach their leadership - Gracian Kamgang, Risha Kaushal, and Ankit Girdhar - at gracian@upenn.edu, risha.kaushal.wg20@wharton.upenn.edu, or ankit.girdhar.wg20@wharton.upenn.edu, respectively.
Wharton Student Sustainability Advisory Board (Wharton)
The SSAB is a student led Board to inspire leadership and innovation by advising and advocating student entrepreneurs with sustainability-related initiatives focused on operations. The Board meets monthly to set goals, develop communication, outreach and means to leverage the program, evaluate projects which meet a set sustainable and social impact agenda and select a venture to pilot within Wharton Operations.
Contact sustainability@wharton.upenn.edu for more information.