Angela Wallis ’02

Resource conservation manager combines triple bottom line

February 7, 2011

Angela Wallis ’02

Angela Wallis ’02, resource conservation manager for the King County Housing Authority outside Seattle, believes in the power of government to do good things.  

Wallis’ office monitors energy and water consumption in the authority’s low-income housing and administrative buildings and runs environmental-education programs for low-income residents.

“We educate about recycling and energy conservation,” she says. “In 2010, we reached more than 1,600 families. That’s door-to-door work, educating many immigrant and non-English-speaking residents.” In the process, she says, she also learns a lot about poverty and its effects.

Wallis, who grew up in Oregon, had always been interested in sustainability issues, but it was an environmental-science class at Dickinson that changed her course from psychology to the environment.

After graduating with a bachelor’s in environmental studies and a certificate in law and public policy, she obtained a master’s in public administration from the University of Washington.

“I knew that I always wanted to work in government—that’s where the law and public policy comes in,” she explains. “I love that I get to do environmental work and teach people life skills about waste reduction and recycling. When they move out of our public housing, they may be expected to have that skill, and we’re providing that now. It’s absolutely combining the triple bottom line—social, economic and environmental.”