Maggie Atchley

Background

About Maggie Atchley

I am a recent graduate of Furman University, where I studied Sustainability Sciences with a minor in LatinX and Latin American Studies. At Furman, my coursework and extra-curricular activities revolved around environmental and economic justice, sustainable food systems, and community empowerment. In addition to taking classes on these subjects, I served with various Greenville non-profits, worked with organizations to educate the student body on important sustainability topics, and conducted research on movements working to improve environmental and social well-being. I am now serving with UTK's Office of Sustainability as their Social Impact Coordinator through CAC's AmeriCorps program. In this position, I strive to improve our campus community's well-being, primarily through programs that provide for student, faculty, and staff basic needs. The bulk of my work includes overseeing our on-campus Free Store, where we take in gently-used items to be given out freely to our campus community. I also oversee campus food recovery efforts, turning would-be food waste into free ready-to-heat meals that students, faculty, and staff. Beyond these projects, I manage our campus engagement efforts, consistently interacting with students and other key stakeholders to identify key issues on campus, to increase the participation of these stakeholders in our problem-solving and programming, and to educate others on things such as responsible consumption, waste diversion, and sustainable systems transformation.After my year serving with UTK's Office of Sustainability, I will be looking for opportunities to work in an impact-focused career where I can leverage my knowledge of sustainability, my teaching and project management skills, and my love of storytelling to serve communities.