P. Simran Sethi

Simran Sethi is an Emmy award-winning journalist and associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, where she teaches courses on sustainability and environmental communications. She is currently writing a book on the psychological barriers to environmental engagement for Harper Collins. Simran is the contributing author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy, winner of the bronze 2008 Axiom Award for Best Business Ethics Book. She is also the founding host/writer of Sundance Channel's environmental programming The Green and the creator of the Sundance online series The Good Fight, highlighting global environmental justice efforts and grassroots activism.

Named one of the top ten eco-heroes of the planet by the UK’s Independent and lauded as the “environmental messenger” by Vanity Fair and “environmental woman of impact” by Daily Variety, Simran has contributed numerous segments to Nightly News with Brian Williams, CNBC, the Oprah Winfrey Show, Today Show, Ellen DeGeneres Show, Martha Stewart Show and History Channel. She is committed to a redefinition of environmentalism that includes voices from the prairie, the inner city and the global community.

Simran blogs about sustainability for The Huffington Post and is currently writing a yearlong series about making her first home more resource efficient as a weekly contributor to the Oprah Winfrey and Mother Earth News Web sites. She has been a featured guest on NPR and is the host of the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary, “A School in the Woods.” Simran has lectured at institutions ranging from the Commonwealth Club to Cornell University; keynoted conferences including Bioneers by the Bay, the Green Business Conference and the North American Association For Environmental Education; and moderated panels for the Clinton Global Initiative University, Demos and The Climate Group.

Simran is a 2010 fellow in the Poynter Institute's Sense-Making project, a Ford Foundation-funded program that is studying the integration of new media and democratic values. She has also served as an associate fellow at the Asia Society since 2008. Simran is a member of the Sustainability Advisory Board, a mayoral appointment in the city of Lawrence, Kansas. She holds an M.B.A. in sustainable business from the Presidio Graduate School where she now lectures in their sustainability certification program and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Sociology and Women’s Studies from Smith College. She is the 2009 recipient of the Smith College Medal, awarded to alumnae demonstrating extraordinary professional achievements and outstanding service to their communities, and the 2010 recipient of the American College Personnel Association Champion of Sustainability award for leadership on sustainability within academe.