Debra Rowe is a professor at Oakland Community College in Oakland County, Michigan, who has taught classes in energy management, renewable energy, and psychology. Much of her work explores the role of community colleges and other higher education institutions as leaders in educating a population and a workforce that can support the development of a green economy and meet sustainability goals.
Known nationally and internationally for her work in education and sustainability, Rowe is the President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, and Director of the Sustainability Education and Economic Development Center at the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE).
Among others, Rowe works with the United Nations Youth Education Alliance (UNEP-YEA) and its Green Jobs Initiative, for which she co-authored Global Guidance for Education on Green Jobs (2021). She has also co-authored the National Roundtable on the Workforce for a Green and Inclusive Economy: Recommendations to the White House and Federal Agency Staff (2021)..
Early life and education
Rowe attended Yale University, receiving her B.A. (1977), before going to the University of Michigan, from which she earned an M.B.A. in Business (1988), an M.A. in Psychology (1989), and a Ph.D. in Business (1991)..
Career
Rowe co-designed and taught Campus and Corporate Sustainability at the University of Vermont while also teaching at the Oakland Community College (OCC) in Oakland County, Michigan. She was a professor of psychology at OCC for 42 years, retiring in 2023. She was active in a wide range of strategic and curriculum planning activities as well as teaching.
In addition to addressing energy management, renewable energy and sustainability issues, Rowe has focused on the role of higher education in educating people about sustainability and in creating a workforce that can support a green economy and meet sustainability goals. As a consultant for the national Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE), with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rowe created a model for an energy management degree, designed for use in community and technical colleges. Rowe also edited the encyclopedia Achieving Sustainability: Vision, Principles and Practices (2014).
Rowe has been described as "a mover and shaker in the field of sustainability in higher education, and a consummate connector." She is the President of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, based in Washington, DC and serves on the advisory council of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Rowe has co-founded related organizations including the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC, 2005) and the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS, 2006)
Rowe is also the Director of the Sustainability Education and Economic Development Center at the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE), an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). Rowe chairs the Technical Advisory Group for the national Sustainability Education & Economic Development (SEED) Center, originally created by the AACC and later managed by the NCWE. She has served as the AACC's designate to the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics
Debra Rowe co-chairs the Education for Green Jobs action group for the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI). HESI is an open partnership between United Nations entities and the higher education community. UN partners in the initiative include UN DESA, UNESCO, the UN Global Compact’s Principles for Responsible Management Education initiative, and the United Nations Academic Impact initiative, among others. Rowe works with the UN Youth Education Alliance (UNEP-YEA) on its Green Jobs Initiative, and is a co-author with Mari Nishimura of Global Guidance for Education on Green Jobs (2021). She also co-authored the National Roundtable on the Workforce for a Green and Inclusive Economy: Recommendations to the White House and Federal Agency Staff (2021).
Rowe also co-chairs HESI's SDG Publishers Compact Fellows, an action group that develops tools, strategies, initiatives and recommended actions for connecting practitioners, policymakers, researchers, educators, students and the public, and helping communities to address challenges related to the United Nations sustainable development goals.