Sustainability Director
Beth Savan, Ph.D. MCIP
Beth Savan is the inaugural Sustainability Director at the University of Toronto, where she has been responsible for establishing the Sustainability Office and managing its staff, for engaging over three thousand students a year in sustainability activities on campus, and for overseeing energy and resource conservation programs. For seven years, Beth directed the Environmental Studies Programme at Innis College, University of Toronto. She has served as Research Director and Undergraduate Coordinator for the Centre for Environment.
Beth obtained her Ph.D. in insect ecology from the Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London (England), and has received numerous large research grants, most recently to work on energy conservation on campus, on community sustainability locally, on climate change internationally, and on barriers and factors facilitating Community Based Research in Canada.
Beth has been very active as a government advisor, on Environmental Non-Governmental Organization boards and on foundation grants committees. Recently, she chaired the Environmental Assessment Review Panel for the Ontario Minister of the Environment and co-chaired the City of Toronto’s Sustainability Round Table. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Sustainability Network and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, where she co-chairs the Grants Committee. She also has broad experience in the popular media, where she has worked in TV, radio and print. In addition to a large number of scholarly publications, Beth has produced several award-winning radio series and has published two popular books, one for adults and one for children. Beth lives in Toronto with her husband and three children.
