The Sustainability Institute at Molloy University

The Sustainability Institute is a function of the Molloy University Office of Advancement. Its mission is to promote transformative education both on and off campus consistent with the values of advancing the common good, environmental protection, ethical business practices, and civic responsibility, especially in the areas of implementing clean energy, reducing environmental toxins that impact public health, sustainable land use planning that preserves open space, and sustainable use of resources.

The Sustainability Institute provides a convening function at Molloy University that reaches out to Long Island's civic and environmental leaders, business executives, and government officials, bringing representatives of various interests together, in order to identify mutual interest in support of an agenda of a sustainable economy and society.

Through classroom presentations and experiential learning, the Sustainability Institute helps students gain an understanding of how social change is accomplished while developing their leadership skills to better serve both their future professions and the larger community. The Sustainability Institute acts as a clearinghouse to guide students who are interested in becoming involved in environmental issues towards student or off-campus organizations, faculty-initiated programs and classes.

Sustainability Institute in the News

"Green energy at crossroads: Trump moves raise concerns about LI wind, solar efforts"

Newsday 3/24/25

SI executive director Neal Lewis was quoted in a front-page Newsday article about the potential impact of President Trump's executive directives on Long Island's growing offshore wind industry.

From the Article:

"Environmentalists who have fought for years for offshore wind have a real reason to be very concerned about what this administration will do," said Neal Lewis, executive director of the Sustainability Institute at Molloy University and a longtime wind-energy advocate.

Trump is "going to use his powers in ways that can really devastate the industry for years to come ... There’s an element of holding your breath and continuing to keep fighting," he said.

"Driving an EV on LI"

Newsday 1/14/24

Neal Lewis, SI executive director, and Andrew Manitt, SI research director were both quoted in a front-page Newsday article about the adoption of electric vehicles on Long Island and the desire by potential EV drivers for more public charging infrastructure.

“This is a big transition,” said Neal Lewis, executive director of the Sustainability Institute of Molloy University at its Amityville campus. “There’s an ongoing effort to uniform the system.”

...

Lewis said increasing access for a greater range of potential customers is critical because the wide use of home chargers in suburbs like Long Island can exclude a potentially large market of people like himself who are renters. Not all rental or condo building owners are willing to install chargers for tenant use, despite generous PSEG rebates to do so.

“The number is admittedly a big number of [additional] chargers we need to see,” for widespread access and a fuller conversion to EVs, Lewis said.

...

For Andrew Manitt, research coordinator at Molloy’s Sustainability Institute, driving long distances off Long Island simply requires more planning and time. He’s made trips as far away as Tennessee, with planned stops at known charging stations and more time set aside for charging stops.

“You have to change your mindset from a gas station on any corner to a need to be aware of where chargers are and which are more expensive,” said Manitt, who noted that “even the cheapest gas station is going to be more expensive than your electric car.”