Written By: Celesia Smith
Name: Kisara Dang
Major: Canfield BHP, Sustainability Studies, Geography, Humanities
Topics of Interest: social impact, sustainability, agriculture, economic development
In addition to her traditional studies and organizations, Canfield Business Honors sophomore Kisara Dang has spent hours upon hours working on a project with the President’s Award for Global Learning, an accolade that prepares UT Austin students to conduct research and innovate internationally. As a Canfield BHP, Sustainability Studies, Geography, and Humanities quadruple major, Kisara has made a point to devote her time towards impact initiatives on and outside the Forty Acres.
When Kisara came to UT, she wanted to explore opportunities in social justice and equity, the campus community, and environmentalism. She joined the Sustainability Investment Group (SIG), The Daily Texan, Liberal Arts Council, SELL Fellowship, and more in an attempt to find her home at UT.
“My freshman year was like more of an exploratory experience. (I was) trying to better understand myself and what I wanted to do, because I always knew I wanted to do something that was intersectional and that was connected to environmentalism,” Kisara said. “Saying yes to so many different things freshman year just really benefited me because it allowed me to meet so many people and pursue many different things.”
It’s because of this agglomeration of organizations that Kisara found her President’s Award for Global Learning team: Sumaya Daghestani, Abby Partridge, and Tanya Raghu.
“Saying yes to SELL allowed me to meet Tanya and Abby and I also knew Abby through SIG as well,” she said. “They asked me to join their team and we all agreed that we wanted to do something related to environmentalism.”
As a group, they developed their research focus and decided to work with the University of Jordan to compare water conservation efforts and technology between Texas and Jordan. Now, it’s titled Fostering Green Entrepreneurialism: A Comparison of Water Conservation Practices and Behaviors in Jordan and Texas.
“The project is two-fold. One is to better understand the attitudes towards sustainability both abroad and at home. The second is to foster and encourage sustainability in higher education institutions at UT and the University of Jordan,” Kisara said.
Kisara and her team are working towards these two goals in four main ways: beneficiary research, a written technical report on cultural exchange, the development of a Green Fund in Jordan, and the creation of interactive media content that includes a podcast and website.
“The (surveys and focus groups in Jordan) are being translated into Arabic and disseminated to the student body there (so they can) understand their attitudes towards climate change, water usage, and sustainability. This is being paired with the data the Office of Sustainability is collecting from UT,” Kisara said. “Then we’re writing a comparative report (about cultural exchange) that Abby is in charge of and then (creating) a Green Fund at the University of Jordan based on the one we have at UT. Our main focus now is finding funding for this Green Fund. We currently have $15,000 to give to students in Jordan so they can pursue creative environmental projects through the university.”
Kisara is in charge of the logistics and rules behind the development of the University of Jordan Green Fund, as well as the post-project work with the multimedia content. Her goal with the podcast and website is to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue about sustainability both at and beyond UT.
Throughout all this, Kisara said Canfield BHP has served as an important aspect of her interdisciplinary goals. When it comes to her non-business classes and work with the President’s Award for Global Learning, her Canfield BHP classes and background have proven useful.
“I came to UT and specifically (chose) Canfield BHP because it had flexibility within the degree plan. I always knew I wanted to get a dual degree with something environmentalism-related. Initially, this was just a sustainability studies major and since (last year) it flowered out to other majors,” Kisara said. “My dual curriculum allows me to better understand corporate sustainability. It has also taught me so many technical skills that are transferable to other settings that you wouldn’t even think they would, like developing a budget for a project in my (non-business) national parks class. (Canfield BHP) has made me a better, more well-rounded asset and team member.”