Institute for Sustainable Practice

In the Fall of 2007, Professor Galbreath founded the Institute for Sustainable Practice, the Southeast's first, comprehensive, academic sustainability program. As the director of graduate programs, his teaching primarily focuses on Earth systems and applied and advanced sustainability. Professor Galbreath has studied sustainability throughout the United States, China, and eight European countries. Four mayors of Nashville and three Tennessee governors have appointed Professor Galbreath to leadership roles. He currently serves as chair of the Metro Nashville Stormwater Management Committee and on a mayoral sustainability advisory committee. At the state level, he serves on the Tennessee Board of Water Quality, Oil and Gas representing environmental interests. Before coming to Lipscomb, Professor Galbreath created one of Tennessee's first corporate sustainability consulting practices at URS Corporation. While serving two governors of both parties, he led passage of six state laws to manage surface and groundwater use, designate a state scenic river, and restore natural rivers and wetlands. He also co-chaired one of the nation's first, state environmental justice plans. Over his 37 year career, Professor Galbreath also served in the federal government, at three university research centers, received two statewide leadership awards and was recently awarded the Roberts Sparks Walker Lifetime Achievement Award from the governor and commissioner of the environment for Tennessee.

Dr. Ryan Jackwood specializes in watershed restoration, biogeochemical processes at the land-water interface and contaminant transport, specifically nutrients and bacteria, in rivers and lakes. He is originally from Ohio where he earned a B.S. degree from Ohio State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Toledo researching issues with water quality and harmful algal blooms on Lake Erie. During his Ph.D. research, Dr. Jackwood helped design and construct two multi-million dollar river restoration projects – a restored wetland and floodplain. These restored systems mitigate sediment, bacteria, and nutrient runoff from agricultural drainage in a Lake Erie tributary. In March 2019, Dr. Jackwood was hired as the Watershed Science and Restoration Director for the Harpeth Conservancy in Nashville, TN. At the Harpeth Conservancy, he provides strategic direction for the science-based programs and implements restoration priorities based on water quality assessments. In 2020, Dr. Jackwood began serving on the board of the Tennessee Stormwater Association.

With a M.S. in rural sociology and Ph.D. in forestry from Auburn University, Emily Stutzman joined the Institute for Sustainable Practice in January 2015 as our full-time Academic Director. She is our first academic director to fully embody many of the holistic attributes of sustainability through her own unique interdisciplinary academic journey and skills. As a social scientist of natural resources and agriculture, she teaches the applied social science course in the M.S. in Sustainability program, Zero Management (SU 6153). Stutzman's own academic inquiry applies the sociology of conservation and natural resource management in the context of sustainability. Her past research includes surveying behaviors and attitudes of fish farmers in Uganda and fruit and vegetable growers in Florida, and forest landowners and forestry professionals in Alabama who are experimenting with new sustainability practices. Stutzman also works as a writing consultant, specializing in science writing. To renew herself, she enjoys reading, yoga, and traveling with her family.

Dr. Bin Shui currently teaches Urban Resilience and Sustainability, a graduate-level course focusing on theory and practice of urban resilience in response to natural and human-caused disruptions. She also teaches the Capstone Project (SU6043), which helps graduate students build their independent research capability and critical thinking skills. She has published journal papers, conference papers and technical reports in the areas of sustainability and governance, building energy efficiency, household consumption, and environmental impacts of international trade. Dr. Shui worked at Pacific National Laboratory, American Council for an Energy-efficient Economy, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Energy Research Institute (China). She taught statistics as an adjunct at Cleveland State University. Dr. Shui earned her bachelor degree in engineering at Beihang University (China), and the Ph.D. degree in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.