Commitment to environment and philanthropy drives six-figure gift to Institute for Energy Studies

When, post-retirement, John and Marcia Harter began to divide their time between Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest, they fell in love with Bellingham. “There’s vibrancy and a sense of possibility here,” notes John. “It feels like you can really do something. It’s a likely place to drop a little seed of support.”

For both Harters, as California public school teachers and administrators with longtime environmental interests – “we met at a workshop for educators built around such issues” – the city’s environs offer plentiful outdoorsy action and beauty, but Western makes it great. “Western is a jewel and is getting well-deserved recognition,” says John. “We’re happy to support a really wonderful institution – Western Washington University – and its Institute for Energy Studies, a program so full of exciting promise.”

The Harters are contributing toward that promise with a $100,000 gift that will impact several areas, including supporting the Institute’s development of a bachelor of science degree in energy science and technology. During this curricular-building process, the Institute will collaborate with sustainability and engineering think-tank Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) as well as draw on other industry experts and professionals to create and test-drive the new degree. The gift will also support additional teaching posts at Huxley as well as paid internships so that Western students can participate in RMI projects.

Both Harters have always espoused a hands-on, project-based method to problem-solving and learning, and they recognize that that model is inherent to the Institute of Energy Studies’ mission and vision, an approach that thrives on taking what people consider practical matters – technology and science and engineering – and marrying it with the creativity and innovation of entrepreneurship. “It seems to me,” says John, “that Western is at a point where it can really make a difference nationally in terms of creating – and being – a model of how you can take different parts of a university and weld them together into a meaningful program. I’ve always been a fan of interdisciplinary studies and knocking down walls; I see the Institute for Energy Studies’ programs as filling a critical need, serving the next generations’ futures as well as the planet’s future.”

Part of the Harters’ hope is to be part of a larger group of individuals, businesses and foundations that will ensure what John describes as “a promising effort to really make a difference around energy management and production. And I think for the Institute’s students, it’s a great opportunity to find a career that helps rather than hurts the planet. It’s critical for them to be trained to address our environmental and energy problems,” adds John, who draws part of his inspiration from big-name, philanthropic entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. “Especially since they’re going to live in the future. As students and as post-graduates, they will be helping create a livable future for themselves and for their children. I like to think long-term and I just think it’s such a gift to be alive; I hate to think that I’m among the last humans to really enjoy a livable planet. Marcia and I think the most promising way that we can spend our little bit of money is to try to make an impact in how energy is produced. So this, to me, is a big deal: It’s our effort to make some difference.”