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Resilience Pathmaker Awards

QEP seeks to recognize students, faculty and staff who are advancing climate literacy and “climate response-ability” at App State. We define climate response-ability as “having the knowledge, skills and sense of agency to envision and implement positive climate action in our professions and our communities.”

In particular, Resilience Pathmaker Awards will be given to Mountaineers who are highly involved in one or more of the following kinds of activities:

  • Engaging others in learning about climate change, climate solutions and/or climate resilience;
  • Engaging others in developing skills to contribute to positive climate action(s);
  • Engaging others in taking positive climate action(s);
  • Creating new opportunities/programs for Mountaineers to grow their climate literacy and/or to take positive climate action; 
  • Reaching new audiences with climate literacy and response-ability efforts; AND/OR
  • Taking a leadership role in climate literacy and response-ability efforts.

The QEP Awards Selection Committee, composed of climate literacy champions and sustainability leaders from across the university, reviews nominees’ materials and select awardees who are contributing most significantly to advancing climate literacy and climate response-ability at App State.

2026 Resilience Pathmaker Awardees (photos and more)

  • Reilly Cates, a senior majoring in Sustainable Development
  • Asher Fazal, a senior majoring in Sustainable Business Management
  • Megan Prosser, a senior majoring in Sustainable Development
  • Jennifer Maxwell, Sustainability Program Director in the Office of Sustainability & Energy Management
  • Elizabeth Riede, Executive Director of Campus Dining
  • Brian Burke, Professor in the Department of Sustainable Development
  • Marta Toran, Senior Lecturer & Outreach Coordinator in the Department of Geological & Environmental Sciences
  • Carla Ramsdell, Practitioner in Residence in the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Nominate a Mountaineer!

QEP invites you to nominate students, faculty and staff for our inaugural Resilience Pathmaker Awards using this form. Self-nominations are welcomed (don’t be humble—nominate yosef!). 

Note: nominations for the 2026 awards are closed and we celebrated nominees and selected awardees at the QEP End of Year Awards & Celebration on May 1, 2026.

Nominee Materials

We will ask nominees to answer the questions below and provide images (optional) that could help us visualize their work.

1) Duration: How long have you been involved in activities that advance climate literacy and/or response-ability at App State? 

2) Involvement: Please describe your involvement in activities that advance climate literacy and/or response-ability (see bulleted list above) at App State.

3) Leadership: Please describe any leadership you have taken in the activities that you described in Question 2. Note that this isn’t limited to leadership that comes with a title/position of some kind. 

4) Impact: Please describe what you see as the impact(s) of your involvement in activities that advance climate literacy and/or response-ability at App State. How has your involvement made a difference? 

nominee form