Sustainability

Center for Sustainability, Ecology, and Chemistry

Education

• Master of Environmental Science and Management University of California, Santa Barbara
  Specialization in Corporate Environmental Management; Focus in Environmental Communication
• BA, Global Studies, Principia College; Minors: Sustainability and Spanish Language

Contact

• 618.374.5491
• Send a message to Kynan.

Overview

Kynan Witters Hicks joined the Sustainability Department as faculty in 2025. He also serves as the College Sustainability Officer where he integrates sustainable thinking and practice into the College’s operational activities and strategic initiatives. In this role, Kynan supports multiple student-led initiatives on campus including Sustainability Club, student-led businesses, and student government / dormitory ecology representatives.  Kynan came to Principia with a background in consulting for corporations and government organizations in sustainability, energy, climate change, and environmental assessment.

Scholarly Interests

• Business design to support sustainable societies
• Societal adoption of clean energy
• Sustainable food systems
• Sustainable finance
• Environmental communications

Contributions to Your Field

Kynan has worked as a practitioner of sustainability creating new strategies that further adoption of environmentally-sustaining practice within organizations, including:

• Clean energy procurement strategy that incorporates environmental, social, and financial objectives
• Novel approaches for improving supplier carbon emissions data collection and reporting
• Accounting criteria for incorporating market-based purchases of environmental products (e.g. low carbon material certificates) into organizational greenhouse gas inventories

Memberships and Affiliations

• Saint Louis Higher Education Sustainability Consortium
• Midwest Climate Collaborative
• Resilience Studies Consortium
• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

Publications and Presentations

Brown, J. S., Spalinger, S. M., Weppner, S. G., Witters Hicks, K. J., Thorhaug, M., Thayer, W. C., Follansbee, M. H., Diamond, G. L. (2022). “Evaluation of the integrated exposure updated biokinetic (IEUBK) model for lead in children.” Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.

Van Dyke, F V., Wilderman, S., Harju, S., Faulkner, J., Hindy, K., Kitzel, P., Marshall, T., Redick, C., Rowley, D., Tolsma, J., Vander Stelt, V., Wolfe, A., Keas, B., Witters-Hicks, K. (2022). “Effects of Soil Treatments and Tree Species on Reforestation of Well Pads.” Restoration Ecology, 30 (8).

Witters Hicks, K. J. Novel Approaches to Improving Supplier Carbon Emissions Data Collection and Reporting. Oral presentation.

Kynan Witters Hicks CV