New environmental communications endowment equips students to tell stories for the Earth
||| FROM WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY |||
The Salish Sea Institute Tahlequah Communication Internship, funded by Frank Greer and Stephanie Solien, prepares students to use their communications skills in environmental journalism and advocacy.
Frank Greer and Stephanie Solien have been passionate about politics and activism their entire adult lives, working on campaigns and donating to good causes.
To that end, the couple is establishing the Salish Sea Institute Tahlequah Communication Internship program.
The endowment will fund a paid student internship with University Communications at Western expressly to provide communication and advocacy assistance to the Salish Sea Institute.
“The environmental movement really needs a skilled communications strategy and public relations sense, and I wanted to do good work. I wanted to use communications to make positive change in the world,” says Greer.
Frank Greer got his start in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the anti-war movement of the 1970s. He went on to found GMMB, a communications and public relations company that helps progressive campaigns refine their voice and back up their passion with savvy PR. Greer worked on campaigns for President Clinton, President Obama, South African President Nelson Mandela and others.
Stephanie Solien, a member of the Salish Sea Institute advisory board, has a similarly involved background, working as staff in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and as national political director for the Clinton presidential campaign in 1992. She was also a member of the Puget Sound Partnership board for eight years, and most recently served as co-chair of Gov. Inslee’s Southern Resident Orca Task Force.
“We left this next generation with a large climate and economic challenge, and Frank and I wanted to give students a foothold to launch into those areas of social and environmental change,” says Solien.
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Thank you Frank and Stephanie. What a terrific opportunity. If I were only 59 years younger . . .
Let me echo what Toby has to say and add that communication has become a far more complex affair than when I began doing it at Stanford University in the late 1980s. To confront the misinformation and disinformation now rampant on the internet and web, we need well-educated, devoted environmental advocates that this WWU internship program will help foster.
“We left this next generation with a large climate and economic challenge, and Frank and I wanted to give students a foothold to launch into those areas of social and environmental change,” says Solien.
What an opportunity… this is very Impressive. I enthusiastically echo what both Toby and Michael have to say, and I thank you Frank, Stephanie and WWU for being a part of the solution in such a challenging environment (pun intended).
I also appreciate the well-written article that provides a link both allowing one to sign up to receive the Salish Sea quarterly newsletter, as well as a contact number for interested students to get more information on the internship program. Thank you.