Staff Profile: Julie Cahillane

Julie Cahillane is the Associate Director of Sustainability at Northwestern Facilities. In her role, she oversees campus sustainability initiatives and empowers the campus community to incorporate sustainability practices into their lives. As a longtime University employee, she has gained a wealth of knowledge about the campus and integrated it with her passion for ecology. Below, she shares more about her background and how she spends her days at Northwestern.

What do you do here at Northwestern Facilities? 

I oversee sustainability initiatives as they develop on campus. Lately, I have been focusing a lot on our benchmarking submissions. For both the City of Evanston and the City of Chicago, we are required by law to report the energy use of every building over a certain size. In Chicago, that is pretty much all of our properties. In Evanston, it is every building over 20,000 square feet, so there are many.

I am also monitoring the Evanston Healthy Buildings Ordinance (HBO). The ordinance is intended to increase the impact of the benchmarking requirement by mandating some targeted reductions in energy use, renewable energy purchases, and eliminating emissions. The regulation is in the rulemaking stage, so I am keeping an eye on the developments.

At the start of the school year, I develop engagement initiatives to incorporate into new student orientation and with a couple student groups I advise.

I also coordinate Northwestern's affiliation with the ComEd Strategic Energy Management (SEM) Program. It is a free program ComEd offers, where a third-party group helps us look at potential opportunities for energy savings, ideally low- to no-cost options. I help them navigate the buildings we have chosen to include in the program which includes monitoring energy consumption, assessing opportunities for greater efficiency, and understanding what improvements have been made to the properties.

Our Operations team determines which elements are feasible, make sense for us operationally, and can be incorporated into our existing plans and maintenance practices. This can lead to both energy savings and potentially rebates or incentives from ComEd.

What drew you to sustainability work?  

What drew me to the field was a deep respect for the natural world and a desire to protect and maintain natural resources. When I went to college, there were not the environmental studies options there are now. I majored in communications and, at the time, thought maybe I would do public relations work for an environmental organization.  

What contribution to the Northwestern community are you most proud of?  

My hope is that I contribute to the University reducing its footprint and its impact on climate.  

We have to plan, build, operate, and maintain our campus with sustainability in mind, but we also must engage our campus community in their part in this process and how they can reduce their impact, both on campus and beyond. As an institution of higher education, teaching our students the ways they can participate is important, both here on campus and out in the world when they leave.  

Things like the end of the year move-out donation drive help students understand that they can think about donating instead of just throwing things out. And, it helps students think about reuse in terms of the things they purchase. You can get many things secondhand and not have to create new resources or purchase new items. It is a lesson in both disposal practices and moving with sustainability in mind, as well as better purchasing and consumption habits and their alternatives.  

What is the most rewarding part of your work?  

Helping people find their connection to sustainability is the most rewarding part.  

Sometimes it is an office asking, “How can we support sustainability? What can we do?” Sometimes it is a student who has a passion but needs help finding a little bit of focus on a real way they can make a difference. Sometimes it is an individual who is curious but does not know where to start.  

Helping folks find the things they are motivated by, interested in, or how they can maximize what they are already doing is rewarding. For example, in an office it can also mean looking at its own internal operations. There are things you cannot control, like how the building is built or how efficient the lighting is, but you can control turning off the lights. You can control buying reusable serving ware for your kitchen area instead of disposable items.  

It is about looking at the kinds of things folks can actually do and helping them understand that, even though they are one person or one small office, if everybody does the right thing we will make a big impact. 

What do you like most about working at Northwestern?  

Working in higher education has historically been an open and accepting environment for thought, perspective, and people from different backgrounds, and I appreciate that here. I also appreciate the student interaction. They challenge you in different ways and bring new perspectives to the table. You get to see an ebb and flow of interest in different topics and the priorities of the generation. It is interesting to work with and see that wave of student activism, interest, and culture.  

What is a fun fact about you?  

I previously worked in media relations and served in the press offices of both the Illinois Secretary of State and Governor. Also, my husband and I have fostered 20 dogs. 

What is your favorite spot on campus?  

Anywhere there is a view of the lake is always my favorite. We are so fortunate to have the amount of lakefront space we do. The second one would be Shakespeare Woods; it is a small, wooded area just east of Shakespeare Garden.  It was recently restored by Planning and Grounds with input from students, which is the kind of collaboration I love. It is a little hidden gem, a peaceful, wooded spot in the middle of our campus that is kind of secluded.  

What do you wish more people knew about Facilities?  

I wish more people knew the extent of Facilities' work. The administrative staff who run things do, but students, faculty, and even some staff may not understand the breadth of our impact.

While that is probably a good sign that things run fairly seamlessly, I wish more folks understood how campus works and how many individuals make sure the campus infrastructure is resilient and always ready to support them.  

What is a key principle you have learned in your role?  

Communication is key. In Facilities particularly, we have a unique mix of backgrounds across our department, all working toward the same cause. We have to leverage each other’s various skills and communicate the importance of what one group is doing and how that impacts another group. Without that, things would fall apart.