Nicole Darnall’s interest in sustainability was hatched on the small farm in southern New Mexico where she grew up. 

Her allowance came from selling chicken eggs, and to earn more bacon, she experimented with various methods of increasing production, from building henroosts to crafting makeshift incubators. After many failed attempts, she designated some of her most productive chickens as hatchers.

“While my egg production fell initially, after six months, [it] was at an all-time high. This led to increased sales, largely driven by ethically minded customers who valued locally produced eggs from happy chickens,” she says. “I didn’t know it at the time, but sustainable enterprise would become my professional jam.”

The lessons Darnall learned at age 11 continue to inform her scholarship as the inaugural Arlene R. and Robert P. Kogod Eminent Scholar Chair in Sustainability, AU’s first joint chair, which sits in both the Kogod School of Business and the School of Public Affairs. 

Darnall is the fifth sustainability faculty member to join Kogod in the last two years and is teaching in the school’s master’s in sustainability management program—its fastest-growing degree offering. In SPA, she will advance the work of the Center for Environmental Policy and focus on issues of sustainability governance.

“AU has a tremendous community of colleagues and students dedicated to tackling today’s biggest sustainability challenges,” she says. “I am excited to bring my expertise in sustainable enterprise to collaborate with them, advance innovative research, and create exceptional educational opportunities that lead to impactful sustainability initiatives for all kinds of organizations and their leaders.”

When it comes to sustainability, Darnell is ready to help AU rule the roost.