Faculty Spotlight: Rachel Patterson
Rachel Patterson
Rachel Patterson is the instructor for the Spring 2023 Seminar class MPA Environmental Science and Policy ProgramAn alumnus of the program, she graduated in 2018 and is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor degree at Albany Law School.
In addition to serving as a faculty advisor, she works at Evergreen Action, supporting federal climate policy efforts to advance renewable energy deployment and emissions reduction strategies while focusing on frontline and environmental justice Community.
What are your aspirations after graduating from the MPA-ESP program?
I graduated from the program in May 2018 and at that point I did very little job hunting. However, the SIPA Career Office does a great job sending out open state job applications. I was willing to move to Albany, and by the end of the school year, I had a job as an Excelsior Fellow in New York State. This allowed me to work for NYSERDA which was a great opportunity to gain insight into some state policy and my boss ended up being a great mentor. I did program management there for about six months, and then I was asked to transfer to the governor’s office for a briefing. However, that job didn’t have a policy focus, so I chose not to stay too long.
At that point I had public experience, I did a year of nonprofit work between undergrad and graduate, and I wanted to get corporate experience, so I went to Booz Allen and worked for about six months. I found it didn’t work for me. I’m doing defense contracts and I have no passion for it. I decided to move back to New York State and started working as a Legislative and Climate Assistant at the New York Environmental Advocates Association, where I gained most of my in-depth policy experience. I had to do a lot of writing policy, research, analysis, and blogging, which led me to my current role, doing a similar job, but at the federal level, as the policy lead for Evergreen Action.
What got you into law school?
I worked at the state level for a few years, working on policy, and I really enjoyed it. This work includes developing policies that are more ambitious than what New York State is already doing. Much of this is advocacy for improving existing policies. What I’ve found myself is that a lot of the time it doesn’t matter how good the policy is or how much work you put into it. What really matters is who is in the room explaining what the policy is about. Among them, at the state level, are often lawyers. When I was an undergrad, I initially thought that in order to do policy, I needed a background in policy and science. In the real world, however, I’ve found that no one cares about science and what really cares about is explanation. That’s why I ended up in law school, so I could be one of the people to validate that interpretation of the law.
What are you passionate about?
One of my great passions is environmental justice. I started working on climate with a people-centred approach, learning about people who grew up with refineries, asthma, and pollution. A lot of what I do in my job is to make policy fairer. This includes making sure the community can be involved in the process, which sounds easy but is often overlooked.
When I came back to New York and started working on policy, I did a lot of work around climate leadership and the implementation of the Community Protection Act.Back then nobody really knew how to distribute benefits to people, especially in 40% authorized. But I am very proud that we can advocate for sustaining funding. When people need to transfer money, the first things to do are things that seem aspirational, like climate goals. In particular, I’ve done a lot of work around the regional greenhouse gas inventory program because New York State has long been diverting money and spending it on other things.
I was also involved with this bill that just passed last year, it has nothing to do with environmental justice, but it’s about allowing the dead to be turned into organic matter instead of being cremated or buried, which has huge environmental impacts.
But what I’m proud of in my career is being able to own that equity line. A lot of what I’m doing now is under the leadership of New York and California, but at the federal level. Being able to take the lessons learned from New York and then being able to take that to the agencies and scale it up to a great extent. From my perspective, there are too many challenges and too many institutions not doing the right thing, but also too many opportunities.
What are the highlights of your work?
Even though I’m a lawyer in training, they let me do a lot of really cool things related to the legal field. For example, we have a list of recommendations for U.S. Attorneys General on how they can help enforce environmental justice. Fun little projects like this.
What is the biggest takeaway from your post-graduation experience?
In my 5-7 years of professional career, my biggest reward is to continue to focus on that passionate project. When I left Booz Allen, left the corporate world and went to a different job, I followed my passion. It worked, and now I have incredible work. I love it, and we’re also one of the best-funded climate nonprofits outside of the Big Green Party. The path will render itself. You just have to keep chasing the right path and those passionate projects. It is my pleasure to continue this judicial work.
Staying where you are, how does it feel to be the advisor of your senior project now?
I was so humbled and honored to even be considered.steve cohen [director of the MPA-ESP program] Has been very supportive of me and any student who shows effort and puts in the work. I guess it’s a testament to keeping those connections and connecting with real people with the same goals.
As an active practitioner, it’s really interesting to see the questions students ask. They had a more rigorous process for their workshops in the fall, and now they have a client that was very open in the spring. This is real life. I’m currently going through almost the exact same thing in my professional life. I have a project that is due at the end of the semester and it has all the same steps. I’m working on an outreach plan and tracking weekly progress. My real life still mirrors the program.
What would you like this group to keep in mind as they approach graduation?
Many people think they know what they want to do. It’s really important to me to let the time pass and actually learn the things I love. I don’t feel bad about quitting a job that didn’t fit my ethics and interests. I’m able to justify it because I work really hard on things that make sense and that I enjoy. It doesn’t make sense for me to focus on things I don’t like. I want this generation of students to realize that we don’t have 20 year careers anymore – we don’t need to pick one thing and stick with it forever. As long as you have the basic skills for the program—the ability to research, analyze, and communicate with people—you’ll be good at any job.
Saj McBurrows is an intern in MPA’s Environmental Science and Policy Program.
Students in the MPA Environmental Science and Policy program take a one-year, 54-credit course offered by Columbia University School of International and Public Affairsand climate school.
Since its inception in 2002, MPA has Environmental Science and Policy The program provides students with practical experience and analytical and decision-making tools to implement effective environmental and sustainable management policies. The program’s 1,112 graduates have advanced to national and international jobs in environmental policy, working in government, the private and nonprofit sectors. Their work addresses issues of sustainability, resource use and global change, with focus areas on air, water, climate, energy efficiency, food, agriculture, transport and waste management. They serve as consultants, advisors, program managers, program directors, policy analysts, teachers, researchers, and environmental scientists and engineers.
