Donielle Nolan (Doni for short) has been at Mason since 2010 when she started as an undergraduate student studying biology and volunteering as the president for the garden club. In 2014, she was hired part time to start the hydroponic greenhouse program at the President’s Park Greenhouse. She became full time staff in 2016 when she combined the greenhouse and gardens into a single program.
Doni received her Master’s of Science in plant science and pest management in 2018 and began teaching sustainability courses as adjunct faculty. She is now pursuing her PhD in Biosciences, studying root rot disease and microbial treatments in hydroponic systems. Her passion and joy are contagious as she engages and educates the community about sustainable food production, composting, herbal medicine and so much more. If you would like to get involved with the Greenhouse & Gardens Program, or have a landscaping related project idea, please contact Doni at [email protected], or sign up for the weekly volunteer shifts.
In her current role as a Program Manager for Zero Waste Mason (ZWM), Colleen oversees a variety of reuse/recovery initiatives to decrease waste incineration and address basic needs insecurity. Items collected at Patriot Packout (PPO) and Mason’s free store are redistributed to Mason Patriots and local community members, preventing useful items from ending up in the trash.
Colleen also partners with team members in University Sustainability, Facilities Management, Housing and Residence Life, community organizations, vendors, and various Mason departments to support waste diversion initiatives and track Mason’s diversion improvement. These include the Better Bins Preview, ZWM standards testing, campus recycling initiatives (e.g., glass recycling), and the expansion of composting, food recovery, and resuables in campus operations. She is a Mason alumna and holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental and Sustainability Studies.
Amber is a sustainability expert with 10+ years of experience who manages George Mason’s institutional sustainability assessments and data reporting like AASHE STARS, greenhouse gas inventories, surveys, mapping, etc. She advises campus stakeholders and peer institutions on strategies to integrate sustainability into their operations, policy, contracts, standards, purchasing, data reporting, and planning based on best practice and assessments.
Amber has provided strategic input, including adding evaluation criteria and performance metrics, as a committee member on university RFPs and contract negotiations worth $300+ million. She has secured $1.4+ million in funding for innovative sustainability projects and initiatives to pilot and develop new standards for sustainability on college campuses. She has represented George Mason at sustainability national conferences and webinars, and as a former National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Board Member, in 2020 she authored NWF’s Plastics Reduction Partner certification program. In 2022, she co-led a task force with Auxiliary and Business Services that earned Virginia’s Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award–Gold.
Amber began her career as a research associate at the Alliance to Save Energy in Washington, D.C. and has consulted for the U.S. government, international organizations, and Fortune 500 clients. She has taught at George Mason and was the faculty liaison for its Environment and Sustainability LLC. Her continuing education includes certifications in Data Visualization (University of Washington, 2024), Carbon Footprinting (University of New Hampshire, 2023), and Executive Education in Sustainability Leadership (Harvard University, 2021). In 2021, she was one of only 18 individuals selected for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Executive Energy Leadership Academy.
