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Allegheny College President Hilary L. Link has been appointed to the Climate Leadership Steering Committee of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments. The steering committee is the chief oversight body of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments, signed by presidents of higher education institutions that are taking action on climate change and preparing students through research and education to solve the challenges of the 21st century. These schools constitute the Climate Leadership Network, with a commitment to mobilizing the sector’s knowledge and practical expertise to accelerate global climate action, rapidly reduce carbon pollution, and increase institutional and community resilience to climate hazards.

“Higher education has set a leading example in confronting climate change, but significant work still needs to be done throughout all facets of society,” Link said. “I am honored and excited to join the steering committee of the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments. These colleges and universities are stepping forward to take important, innovative climate action and to prepare students like ours to become creative leaders ready to address this global crisis.”

The Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments are a signature program of Second Nature, a national organization committed to accelerating climate action in, and through, higher education. Allegheny is the first college or university in Pennsylvania to receive the Carbon Neutral Campus Award from Second Nature and one of the first 10 higher education institutions in the U.S. to achieve carbon neutrality.

The college received the Second Nature award at the organization’s 2020 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit in February. During the summit, Link also participated in a plenary session, “Maintaining Climate Momentum Through Presidential Transitions.” She was joined by her predecessors — Presidents Emeriti Richard J. Cook and James H. Mullen, Jr. — and Allegheny graduate Christine Scott Nelson, who was chair of the Board of Trustees when the college became a charter signatory of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007.

Link assumed her duties as Allegheny president in July 2019. She was named the college’s 22nd president in January 2019 by unanimous vote of its Board of Trustees. Prior to her arrival at Allegheny, Dr. Link served for six years as dean of Temple University Rome and, before that, as the vice provost at Barnard College, Columbia University.

Link is a transdisciplinary and globally oriented scholar of Italian art and literature. She is a graduate of Stanford University and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University in Italian language and literature.