On February 17, 2022, EEMI hosted a meeting among three GW Deans, led by SEAS Dean John Lach, with senior representatives of the European Commission (EC). The meeting was a step in GW’s overall strategic process to develop a working relationship between GW, the European Union and other pan-European countries to promote worldwide sustainability, including energy security and response to the global climate change challenge.
Leading the meeting for the European side was Daniel Calleja, Director-General of Legal Services for the European Commission. Mr. Calleja, a Spanish national, previously was the EC Director-General for Environment. Other senior EC officials participating in the meeting were Mercedes Garcia, Head of Global Issues and Innovation; Manuel Carmona, Counsellor for Environment and Oceans; Klára Talabér-Ritz, Senior Member of the Legal Service; and Vassilis Coutifaris, Senior Public Diplomacy Officer.
Participating in the meeting from the GW side, in addition to Dean Lach, were Dayna Bowen Matthew, Dean of the GW Law School; and Alyssa Ayres, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs; along with Ambassador Andras Simonyi, EEMI Visiting Scholar; Edward Saltzberg, EEMI Director of Professional Education; Donna Attanasio, Head of the Law School's Sustainable Energy Program; Francesca Bignami, Law School Professor of Comparative Public Law and Law of the European Union; Rosa Celorio, Burnett Family Associate Dean and International and Comparative Legal Studies at the GW Law School; Alex Beehler, EEMI Visiting Scholar and former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Environment; Joe Cascio, EEMI Co-Director and former U.S. Federal Environmental Executive; and Jonathan Deason, EEMI Co-Director and lead Professor of the Environmental and Energy Management Program in the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department.
It is expected that the GW-EC partnership, which Director-General Calleja characterized at the meeting as being the key academic contact point in the United States for the European Union, will be being conducted though the EEMI. The partnership promises to have a substantial impact on the University’s research, education and service functions through such specific activities as sponsored research projects and international educational programs, as well as additional exposure of GW to the international community.