Elizabeth Dowdeswell is former Executive Director of the UN Environment Program.

Less than three months after taking office, the Honorable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will visit Brock on Dec. 10 to meet with students and researchers immersed in the University’s increasingly renowned environmental sustainability activities.

The centerpiece of the afternoon visit will be a dialogue with faculty and students from Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC). The visit caps off a year in which Brock was awarded a UNESCO Chair for sustainability research, and also launched the new Sustainability Science and Society graduate program that grants a Master’s in Sustainability.

Before she became Queen’s representative in Ontario this fall, Ms Dowdeswell had a distinguished career as an internationally-recognized executive, including terms as Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program.

Ryan Plummer, Director of the ESRC and driving force behind the new graduate program, said the Lieutenant Governor’s visit so early in her term is an honour for Brock, and sends a strong signal about the importance of sustainability initiatives.

He said Brock’s “privileged location” in a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve highlights “the imperative of reconciling economic and social development with ecosystem integrity, conferring a mandate for sustainability.”=

“Sustainability is a core value of Brock University,” said Plummer. “The ESRC is our flagship transdisciplinary hub regarding environmental sustainability, and the prestigious UNESCO Chair distinguishes us among 18 institutions in Canada and connects us as part of an exclusive international network. “