Dr. Sabine O’Hara is Dean & Director of Land Grant Programs of the new College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences (CAUSES) of University of District of Columbia. In 2010 she founded Global Ecology to assist universities, governments and non-profits in increasing success by developing relevant curricula, research programs and community partnerships. She is a respected author, researcher and higher education executive who is well known for her expertise in sustainable economic development, global education and executive leadership.
O'Hara has experience in virtually every aspect of university administration including curriculum development, strategic planning, program accreditation, international partnerships, marketing and relevant research. A strong advocate of higher education, she believes that education cannot merely provide answers to our questions; it must also question our answers. Education must be relevant, compel us to think about the larger social, cultural and environmental contexts within which we live, and equip us to make a difference.
From 2007-10 she was Executive Director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) a preeminent international exchange agency that administers the Fulbright Scholar Program and collaborates with over 3000 universities in 130 countries. Before joining CIES, O’Hara was the 10th President of Roanoke College in VA and held faculty and administrative posts at Concordia College Moorhead, at Green Mountain College in VT, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and as Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.
A native of Germany, O’Hara earned a doctorate in environmental economics and MS in agricultural economics from the University of Göttingen. She serves on the boards of national and international organizations, including as past president of the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, the International Advisory Board of King Abdulaziz University.
Specialties: Dr. Sabine O’Hara has lectured around the globe, is the author of three books and numerous articles and research reports and has taught courses and professional development workshops on topics including: making higher education relevant; economics and ethics; community based economic development; multi-cultural perspectives on sustainable management; identifying context-based success strategies; educating for social entrepreneurship.
Sabine O'Hara