UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lara B. Fowler, assistant director of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) and a senior lecturer at Penn State Law at University Park campus, has been named the interim director of the Sustainability Institute and University chief sustainability officer, effective July 1.
Fowler replaces current director and Chief Sustainability Officer Paul Shrivastava, who will step down on June 30. Penn State plans to launch a national search for a permanent replacement.
“We are fortunate to have someone with Lara’s experience, expertise and insight to continue leading Penn State’s sustainability efforts and the Sustainability Institute as the University begins its search for a permanent replacement,” said Nick Jones, executive vice president and provost.
Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for finance and business and University treasurer, said, “Lara will help Penn State maintain and advance the University’s vital work in sustainability and stewarding our planet’s resources. She brings a unique perspective from her work as a researcher, teacher and mediator in environmental issues.”
Fowler said, “I’ve worked closely with colleagues in the Sustainability Institute for a number of years and watched the evolution of sustainability at Penn State, not only at the University Park campus, but across all of our campuses. I’m humbled to step into these interim roles and look forward to continuing the valuable work of supporting and promoting sustainability at Penn State and beyond.”
Fowler is a mediator, attorney and law faculty member whose expertise focuses on water, energy, agriculture and dispute resolution.
At IEE, Fowler serves as assistant director for outreach and engagement. Her research centers on how water, energy and ways of managing conflict play out in a region that includes the Chesapeake Bay, agriculture, flood prone rivers, biofuels, and hydraulic fracturing and energy development.
Fowler teaches courses on water law; energy; negotiation and dispute resolution design; and mediation of environmental and public conflicts.
In addition to her joint appointment with IEE and Penn State Law, she is an affiliate faculty member in the Penn State School of International Affairs.
Fowler is a juror for the Stockholm International Water Institute’s Junior Water Prize, a global competition for students ages 15 to 20 who have developed research projects that can help address major water challenges.
During the 2019-20 academic year, she was a visiting Fulbright scholar at Uppsala University in Sweden, where her research focused on finding and understanding examples of where cooperation over managing water resources — both water quality and quantity — have played out.
Fowler’s professional experience prior to joining Penn State includes work for a private law firm in Seattle, Washington, as a mediator, facilitator and attorney, and for the Oregon Water Resources Department on water policy issues.
She holds a bachelor of arts degree in Asian studies from Dartmouth College while accomplishing a senior fellowship program on Native American water rights and earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law with a focus on environmental mediation.