Meet the Advisors

Ronnie Souza is the Director of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) at the University of New England (UNE), where he is responsible for the development, implementation and administration of comprehensive federal and state regulated environmental health and safety programs and policies for the University. Ronnie is also the Radiation, Biological, and Ergonomics Safety Officer for UNE, Chair of the University-wide Safety Committee as well as a member of the IACUC and IBC committees.

Ronnie has over 46 years of EHS management and consulting experience in Nuclear Medicine, Higher Education,  Biotechnology, Healthcare, and Manufacturing industries. As Consulting Services Manager for Triumvirate Environmental Life Science/Biotechnology division, Ronnie provided consulting services for hundreds of the Life Science-Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Higher Education, Healthcare, and Industrial institutions across New England, the mid-Atlantic, and California. It was in the role of Consulting Services Manager for Triumvirate that Ronnie started working for UNE in 2004. At that time, UNE was looking for someone to fill the vacant Radiation Safety Officer position. Ronnie continued his role as Consulting Radiation Safety Officer until 2011 when he accepted the EHS Directors position at The University of New England.

Alethea Cariddi is the Associate Director of Sustainability at the University of New England, where she is responsible for monitoring and managing greenhouse gas emissions and the university’s Climate Action Plan, the recycling program, the move to a water bottle-less campus, sustainable transportation alternatives and many other environmental initiatives.  Alethea works closely with the Facilities Management team to improve equipment efficiencies, and implement energy savings measures with lighting retrofits and direct digital control upgrades.  She received her Building Operator Certification from Northwest Energy Efficiency Council in May 2012.  Her pragmatism in addressing costs associated with conservation initiatives and finding creative funding and logistical solutions has been an asset in advocating and winning champions for efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.

Alethea received her Masters of Science in Education from Alfred University in 1998 and currently teaches at the University of New England as an adjunct for the Department of Environmental Science.  She works closely with students in other capacities as well; she manages 10 workstudy students in the Eco-Rep program, developing their peer leadership, event and project management skills.

Alethea owns a small farm in Gray, Maine, where you could find her milking goats, making cheese and yogurt, beekeeping, raising laying hens and weeding an organic garden.

A North Carolina native, Davis comes to the University of New England as an organic chemist and environmental advocate. An immediate interest in environmental chemistry was sparked when the news broke in 2017 that DuPont had been knowingly poisoning the Cape Fear river with Gen-X(PFAS) in Wilmington, N.C. Now out of the laboratory, Davis enjoys applying his chemistry background to improve science literacy and science communication. Davis enjoys all the activities the four seasons Maine has to offer with his partner Ellie and their cattle dog Fox.

Hello everyone, my name is Jasmine and I’m a senior Environmental Studies major! I am also the president of UNE Earth’s ECO and student co-chair to the UNE Environmental Council. I am very passionate about the environment and keeping it healthy for generations to come! I decided to become an Eco Rep so I could get more involved with on campus environmental initiatives and make positive change. My favorite projects include the Clean Seas kiosk and projects that contribute to our edible campus initiative!

I am an Animal Behavior Major graduating in 2024. My favorite thing about being an Eco-Rep is the feeling of taking action and helping out with sustainability projects that will make a beneficial environmental impact within the UNE community.

My favorite campus sustainability initiative is the composting program. I appreciate how convenient it is to compost on campus and know that my food scraps won’t end up in a landfill. My favorite thing to do outside is going for hikes and going on bike rides. As an Eco-Rep one of my proudest accomplishment has been making the club tennis team a little bit greener. During one of my tennis practices I realized the tennis balls were getting hit over the fence into the woods once the balls were no good. To solve this problem I was able to help install a place to recycle tennis balls that would eventually be used to build tennis courts, or recycled in another way through the program Recyleballs.org.

My name is Ruth Ellis, and I am a freshman environmental science major. I first wanted to become an Eco Rep because as an environmental student I think working with and learning about the sustainability initiatives on campus is good for my future in the field. I think for sustainability initiatives on campus one of our coolest is the composting program. Students can get bags and keys to the composting bins for their dorms, and I am really looking forward to taking advantage of that when I am in a suite next year.