Emma Fisher is the 2017 Recipient of the William Whitley Citizen-Scholar Prize

Emma Fisher (BS, 2017) was named the 2017 Whitley Citizen-Scholar for her commitment to pushing Stanford to lead on sustainability.

Emma was a member of Students for a Sustainable Stanford for four years, over which time the group grew tremendously in size, maturity, and effectiveness. Emma learned immensely from the leaders that came before her, and feels deeply honored to have been able to continue the momentum. As the group’s Director of Strategy her senior year, Emma focused on maximizing SSS’s effectiveness by identifying opportunities for institutional change and empowering members with leadership roles and responsibilities. 

As a distance runner on the Stanford cross country and track teams for three years, Emma saw an opportunity for environmental innovation, leadership, and communication in Stanford Athletics. Beginning her sophomore year, Emma worked to initiate a carbon offset program (“SCORE”) that would offset team travel emissions in a just and responsible way. SCORE was piloted in 2016, when it offset all 2015 competition-related team air-travel emissions and focused on environmental communication to student-athletes and fans. Since then, Emma has continued to push for more serious attention to sustainability in Athletics.

Emma is passionate about the power of movements and local action to make meaningful change. As such, she is excited to work as a grassroots organizer with IMPACT, the organizing arm of the Public Interest Network, in Madison, WI next year. With IMPACT, she will be building local support to advocate for local, state, and national issues of environment and democracy.