A Gift for the Future: Alum Helps Sustain and Grow Sustainability Scholars Program
February 26, 2025
- Author
- Caroline Roy '20
Lorena James ’21 came to Davidson College knowing she wanted to pursue environmental studies.
She’d had no prior professional experience with agriculture until spending a summer working for The Bulb, a nonprofit working to expand food access in the Charlotte area.
She got that job through the college’s Sustainability Scholars Summer Internship Program, an experience that helped define her future. In its 13 years, the program has connected students passionate about protecting and maintaining the environment with community partners in the Charlotte area. For James and others, it’s opened career pathways and has been an invitation to explore impact roles across diverse fields and organizations.
Lorena James ’21 presents her invasive species work at the University of South Carolina
The garden James worked in during her summer as a Sustainability Scholar
James, a Belk Scholar, remained in Charlotte after graduating and maintained strong connections across the sustainability field. She continued learning about food sovereignty while working as an analyst for Red Ventures, joining the company’s Climate Work Circle and starting a community garden.
Now, she works full-time as a Working Lands Conservation Fellow for Nature for Justice, where she helps farmers of color access training, grant funding and other resources. She’s also continued her work as the founder and executive director of Invasive Impact Initiatives, an ongoing effort to share resources on how to responsibly upcycle invasive species.
“When it comes to making an impact, sustainability is all about collaboration,” she said. “I learned how different organizations work together to infuse sustainability into multiple moving parts of the city. I found that working with the other Sustainability Scholars was representative of how things work in the real world.”
Now, thanks to the generosity of environmental specialist Elizabeth Lusk ’85, the college’s sustainability program can continue turning out student leaders for years to come.
Driven by Conservation and Stewardship
For Lusk ’85, whose prolific environmental career has included forestry, nonprofit leadership and a stint with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, investing in the program fit naturally into her values.
Davidson didn’t have an Environmental Studies Department when she was a student, but her college friends urged her to apply to Duke University’s forest management graduate program, where she developed a passion for the interpersonal side of environmental work.
“This work is all about helping people understand nuances,” she said. “The role of Davidson is to educate and enable leaders to go out into the world with empathy and understanding for those who disagree. It all goes back to communication.”
After graduate school, Lusk spent several years as a forester in Maryland and North Carolina — one of few women in the field at the time. In supporting the Sustainability Scholars Program, she hopes to attract a more diverse range of students to environmental work.
“I didn’t want the program to be limited because of resources,” she said. “Women have become more prominent in the field during my career, but people of color are still largely underrepresented. I want to bring more voices into environmental work. I want to see the Davidson breadth of knowledge and critical thinking recognized in the world.”
Lusk also made a gift to the Environmental Studies Department at Davidson, which will help support research initiatives, create new programming and bring in speakers like Dr. Michael Anello, who gave a lecture last month on directing the Haiti Reforestation Partnership.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Davidson's environmental programs and help foster our future leaders,” Lusk said.
Facing the Future: Strengthening Community Partnerships
Director of Sustainability Yancey Fouché said many students come to Davidson with knowledge and passion for the environment and sustainability but aren’t aware of professional options they can pursue. Internship experiences expose them to career possibilities.
“Ten students every summer come away equipped with the tools to figure that out in an immersive way, thanks to the Sustainability Scholars Program,” she said. “Davidson is unique to have these kinds of partnerships and pathways outside of the classroom. Watching our scholars take full advantage and leverage the experience to launch good in the world makes everything worth it.”
Davidson’s partnerships with key organizations in Charlotte grow deeper each year as current scholars and recent grads bring their talents to local sustainability efforts. Organizations like Sustain Charlotte, a non-profit that advocates for sustainable growth and transportation solutions, have worked with Davidson since the program began.
“We’re constantly meeting people and paying attention to new players in the sustainability space,” said Cameron Clark ’15, who worked with the City of Charlotte as a Sustainability Scholar and now manages the program on campus. “Overwhelmingly, we find people wanting to support young professionals in this field. It’s great watching those genuine relationships form.”
The success of the Sustainability Scholars Program lies in the relationship-building between Davidson students, alumni and the greater Charlotte community. It also relies on secure funding — like Lusk’s gift — for its future and growth.
“Creating a sustainable environment relies on biology, public policy, communications, agriculture and more,” Clark said. “This program allows students to try a little bit of everything and figure out where they fit.”
Bailey Scarlett ’25, a Kathleen Stevenson Memorial Scholar, spent the summer after his first year at Davidson working for CleanAIRE NC, a Charlotte nonprofit that combats air pollution in North Carolina. He says being a Sustainability Scholar early in his Davidson experience opened doors to everything else.
He remembers being surprised by the trust and autonomy the CleanAIRE crew gave him at work and by the connections he formed with other scholars back on campus. The older students, most of whom were environmental studies majors, shared academic and professional advice that changed the course of his college experience.
“It led me to my major and gave me an understanding of environmental justice that rounded out the science I was already interested in,” Scarlett said.
Now a senior, he’s a trip leader with Davidson Outdoors and works with the Sustainability Office to connect other students to the field. After graduating, he plans to work full-time in environmental justice.
With support from Lusk, Fouché hopes to create more pathways for Sustainability Scholars to take on leadership and decision-making roles across all areas of climate work — from disaster preparation and response, to conservation, to policy-making.
“We’re lucky to have a community of support dedicated to sustainability who recognize that Davidson has to operate in the context of real world pressures,” she said. “This program is the most important thing our office team puts time into. Securing long-term financial support is so important for our community partners and students. It does right by all the people who have invested in this.”
Lusk’s generous gifts to Davidson make her a part of Women ACT, which launched in November 2014 in connection with the college’s 50+ Years of Coeducation Celebration. The initiative aims to expand engagement, create greater leadership opportunities and bring women together.
