Distinguished Visitor Program
The 2024 Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor Program was a special version of the program focused on environmental sustainability. The Haas Center for Public Service and the Doerr School of Sustainability co-hosted four environmental justice change makers: Angela McKee-Brown, Jason Su, Cecilia Taylor, and Violet Wulf-Saena.
This year's program combined key elements from the Social Entrepreneurs in Residence Program and the Distinguished Visitor Program. The overarching goals were to:
- facilitate student learning and exposure;
- provide professional advancement and networking opportunities for Distinguished Visitors;
- create space for reflection, planning, and personalized support;
- foster academic collaboration;
- allow the visitors to share their expertise with the wider community;
- and offer teaching opportunities.
For additional information about the program, please contact Paitra Houts, director of community engaged learning in education at the Haas Center for Public Service.
Voices of Impact: Joyful and Collaborative Approaches to Sustainable Communities
The 2024 Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor Lecture was open to the Stanford community and general public, and featured a panel discussion with the four Distinguished Visitors on climate resilience and sustainability.
2024 Distinguished Visitors
Angela McKee-Brown is the founder and CEO of Project Reflect, a food systems design lab that develops and builds meaningful, just, and joyful food experiences with communities. She built the organization while serving as the Entrepreneur in Residence at Emerson Collective. Prior to launching Project Reflect, Angela served as executive director at the Edible Schoolyard Project, a nonprofit dedicated to designing hands-on educational experiences in the garden, kitchen, and cafeteria that connect children to food, nature, and each other.
Jason Su is an urban designer focused on the power of social infrastructure to advance social cohesion, civic engagement, shared prosperity, and environmental sustainability. He serves as the executive director of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, leading strategy, engagement, partnerships, and team building for the active use and development of the Guadalupe River Park, a 254-acre, 3-mile riverfront that is San Jose’s civic greenway. Previously, Jason was faculty member of San Jose State University’s Urban and Regional Planning Department, where he co-taught the capstone community planning studio.
Executive director and CEO of Belle Haven Action Cecilia Taylor was elected as mayor of Menlo Park this year and has served on the City Council since 2018. She is the first African-American from the Belle Haven neighborhood to serve on the Menlo Park City Council since 1986, and the first African-American woman to serve as mayor. Cecilia served for over ten years on the adhoc advisory board for San Mateo County Housing Authority and is a Community Emergency Response Team volunteer. She currently is a board member on K-Star Productions, American Teachers Council, Inc., SMC Community Project, and Job Train.
Violet Wulf-Saena has served as an international climate change expert for over ten years working with the United Nations’ Least Developed Countries and Small Island States to protect communities from the impacts of climate change. As Samoa’s first climate change officer she completed Samoa’s first Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment, Initial National Communication to the Conference of the Parties, and Samoa’s National Adaptation Program of Action. In 2020, she founded Climate Resilient Communities, an organization that supports under-resourced communities of color at the frontline of climate change and sea-level rise.