The 2016 Wilson Lecture: Lisa P. Jackson

Wednesday, March 30th, 7:30 PM, Alumnae Hall Auditorium, Wellesley College

President H. Kim Bottomly welcomes Lisa Perez Jackson, Apple Inc.’s Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, for the Wilson Lecture, Wellesley’s premiere lecture of the academic year. Jackson oversees Apple’s efforts to minimize its impact on the environment by addressing climate change through renewable energy and energy efficiency, using greener materials, and inventing new ways to conserve precious resources. She is also responsible for Apple’s education policy programs such as ConnectED, its product accessibility work, and its worldwide government affairs function. From 2009 to 2013, Jackson served as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Appointed by President Barack Obama, she focused on reducing greenhouse gases, protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination, and expanding outreach to communities on environmental issues. She has also served as Chief of Staff to New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine and as Commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Raised a proud resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, Administrator Jackson is a summa cum laude graduate of Tulane University and earned a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University. In 2012, she received an honorary doctorate degree from Tulane University. As the first African-American to serve as EPA Administrator, Jackson made it a priority to expand outreach to communities that are historically under-represented in environmental action. The EPA stepped up protection for vulnerable groups including children, the elderly, and low-income communities that are particularly susceptible to environmental and health threats.

She started with the EPA as a staff-level scientist in 1987 and spent the majority of her career working in EPA's Region 2 office in New York. In 2002, Jackson joined the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and was appointed Commissioner of the agency in 2006. During her tenure, Administrator Jackson focused on seven priorities for EPA's future: taking action on climate change; improving air quality; cleaning up our communities; protecting America's waters; assuring the safety of chemicals; expanding the conversation on environmentalism and working for environmental justice; and building stronger state and tribal partnerships. Administrator Jackson outlined principles to modernize our nation's 30-year old chemical management laws, called for unprecedented innovation in drinking water protection efforts, and announced tough standards to clean the air we breathe. In December of 2009, Administrator Jackson announced an endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, setting the stage for EPA action on climate change. Under her leadership, EPA issued clean air standards designed to reduce emissions from large facilities without burdening small businesses, and a clean cars program – crafted in collaboration with the Department of Transportation and the auto industry – that will make American vehicles more fuel-efficient than ever before.

This program is generously funded by an endowment from Carolyn Ann Wilson, Class of 1910.

photo: Lisa P. Jackson pictured in front of the solar panels that power Apple's data center in Malden, North Carolina.

http://www.wellesley.edu/events/node/79956