Sterling College names fund-raising chief; 3 journalists named Vermont Law Environmental Fellows

CRAFTSBURY COMMON

Sterling College has announced the appointment of Christopher W. Bordeau as the new director of Advancement & Alumni Relations. With eight years in higher education development, Bordeau will lead the recently announced $9 million comprehensive campaign Nourish the Roots: The Campaign for Sterling, the largest campaign in the college’s history.

“We look forward to the leadership that Topher will bring to our fundraising effort. He comes to Sterling College with a successful background in fundraising that will help him secure strategic philanthropic support,” said Sterling College President Matthew Derr.

Nourish the Roots is the most ambitious fundraising effort in Sterling College’s 57-year history. As of March 2015, the college has already raised $4.5 million in gifts and commitments toward its $9 million goal. The heart of the campaign is strengthening the college’s commitment to environmental stewardship, through scholarship support for students, endowed support for faculty and the creation of an energy-efficient campus that relies on renewable sources of energy. The silent phase of the campaign included the largest single donation in Sterling College’s history, a $1 million challenge gift from an anonymous donor, to be matched over the next two years by trustees, alumni and friends of the college.

Bordeau will design and implement comprehensive advancement programs including annual fund, corporate and foundation relations, major gifts, planned gifts, endowment, and alumni and parent relations endeavors.

Prior to joining Sterling College, Bordeau was the head coach of Heavyweight Rowing at Dartmouth College, where he oversaw a 500 percent increase in annual alumni support. He has written for the magazines Men’s Health, Best Life, and Rowing, and has also served as associate editor for Experience magazine. Bordeau graduated from Princeton with a bachelor’s degree in English and completed a post-graduate diploma in Social Studies at Oxford.

 Vermont Law names three Summer Media Fellows

The Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School has selected three journalists for its 2015 Summer Media Fellowship. Each fellow, chosen from a pool of several dozen highly qualified applicants, will attend a two-week Summer Session course at VLS and deliver a lecture as part of the law school’s free “Hot Topics” series.

The 2015 Summer Media Fellows are:

• Natalie Allen, an anchor and correspondent with CNN International. Allen currently anchors “CNN Newsroom.” She has more than 25 years of experience as a broadcast journalist, including at NBC News, MSNBC and The Weather Channel, where she was the network’s first full-time environment correspondent for its flagship program on climate and adaptation, “Forecast Earth.”
• Tim McDonnell, a reporter with Mother Jones and associate producer of Climate Desk, an international collaboration that includes Mother Jones, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Slate, Wired, Grist and the Center for Investigative Reporting and that produces original multimedia journalism on climate change. McDonnell covers many angles of climate change, from science to environmental politics to business.
• Zoë Schlanger, a reporter with Newsweek, where she covers all aspects of environmental health and climate change. She previously worked at The Nation, InsideClimate News, Gothamist, and The Rachel Maddow Show. She often writes about environmental justice—and whether health is regarded as a human right under the law.

Fellows were selected based on work history and samples, commitment to covering environmental issues, and their potential for increasing understanding of environmental law and policy issues nationwide.

In addition to attending class, media fellows will join faculty and other distinguished scholars in delivering lectures as part of Vermont Law School’s 2015 Hot Topics summer series, which covers a wide range of current issues in environmental law. Free and open to the public, the hour-long lectures will be held from noon to 1 p.m. beginning May 30 in Oakes Hall Room 007 on the VLS campus. Vermont Bar Association Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit is available. A schedule of upcoming Hot Topics will be announced later this spring at www.vermontlaw.edu/summer. For more information about the series, call Courtney Collins at 802-831-1371 or email ccollins@vermontlaw.edu.