College Announces 2009 Graduation Student Speaker
April 2009
The University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences has selected Sarah-Jane Littleford, C’09, to be the student speaker at this year’s graduation ceremony.
Littleford, who is from Harare, Zimbabwe, is pursuing both an individualized major in sustainable development and a major in environmental studies, with a concentration in psychology. She is also a member of the University’s Benjamin Franklin Scholars program.
Since her freshman year, Littleford has been active in Gregory College House, participating in the House Council, and, this year, working as a residential advisor. She has volunteered for America Reads/America Counts and the Urban Nutrition Initiative, both run by Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, as well as for the Penn Global Development Initiative. Moreover, she is a member of the Penn Environmental Group, taking part in many campaigns over the years.
Littleford was a student coordinator for the 2008 Philadelphia Global Water Initiative Conference, as well as for the Wharton School's 2008 Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership Conference. In her final semester, she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in Philadelphia, and she produced a white paper on mountaintop mining in West Virginia. Most recently, Littleford was awarded the Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden Award for the Outstanding Senior in Environmental Studies.
After graduating, Littleford would like to continue her efforts toward sustainability, and she hopes to work in the environmental consulting sector.