Shannon Kennedy is the senior manager of Strategic Engagement at the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) where she works across each project and initiative to direct and implement a range of activities to strengthen the mission and impact of CGS. Central to her role is the management of all communications, event coordination and design, engagement with all key stakeholders, and supporting the ongoing development of a shared vision of success across the whole team. In addition to these roles, Shannon supports the Global Sustainability Initiative, which coordinates interdisciplinary climate research across campus that has a strong focus on community engagement, policy, and equity.
Prior to joining CGS, she spent two years at the Center for American Progress as an event coordinator for the energy and environment team. While in grad school, Shannon discovered her passion for strategic engagement while at the Obama White House Council on Environmental Quality where she engaged with a number of communities and stakeholders, and led the American Campuses Act on Climate initiative. She spent her undergrad at the University at Buffalo and formed her identity as a “Terp” while completing her Masters in Public Policy at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy with a specialization in environmental policy. Outside of work hours, she enjoys painting, keeping up with current events, and spending time with family and friends.
- Collaborative action; community engagement; climate communications

Our work at CGS builds a model integrating engagement, analysis, and multi-level governance that can provide the driving force for enhanced ambition.
Learn More about Analytics for Global Climate Ambition
After the U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017, CGS led the analysis of commitments from the more than 4,000 cities, states, businesses, universities, communities of faith, and more who pledged to support the goals of the Paris Agreement in their own capacity. Since the U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Agreement in March 2021, CGS has continued working with U.S. subnational and international partners to deliver analysis that informs how an "all-of-society" ambitious and achievable U.S. climate strategy can drive actionable and feasible policy. CGS informs U.S. climate policy from the local to global through developing integrated modeling and climate scenarios for the federal government, advising on international discussions to ramp up ambition, and collaborating from the bottom-up to move the resources necessary to set and achieve ambitious climate goals.
Learn More about Building a Comprehensive U.S. Climate PolicySchool Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Jenna Behrendt, Andy Miller, Matthew Zwerling, Christoph Bertram, Mel George, Shannon Kennedy, Michael I. Westphal, Maria Borrero, Alicia Zhao, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Zarrar Khan, Jiehong Lou, Haewon McJeon, Mengye Zhu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Alexandra Kreis, Dillon Walton, Aldana Joel Canton, Shiqi Chen, Yingtong Li, Kowan O’Keefe
School Authors: Christoph Bertram, Steven J. Smith, Shannon Kennedy, Jenna Behrendt, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Henry Liu
School Authors: Camryn Dahl, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Bradley Phelps, Sarah Dodds, Shawn Edelstein, Jocelyn Lewis-Johnson
School Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Camryn Dahl, Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Bradley Phelps
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Shannon Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Bradley Phelps, Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Claire Squire, Alicia Zhao, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Jake Meisel, Grace Deye
School Authors: Mengye Zhu, Shannon Kennedy, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Haewon McJeon, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Maria Borrero, Kyle Clark-Sutton, Grace Deye, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Miguel Moravec, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit, Joaquin Rosas, Claire Squire
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Yueming 'Lucy' Qiu, Camryn Dahl, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Jared Williams, Arthur Ku
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kathleen Kennedy, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Kyle Clark-Sutton, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Jake Meisel, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit
School Authors: Camryn Dahl, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Diyang Cui, Claire Squire
School Authors: Jiehong Lou, Nathan Hultman, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Tom Cyrs, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Kowan O'Keefe (CGS PhD Candidate), Sujata Rajpurohit, Lainie Rowland
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Jessica Gordon
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Leon Clarke, Nathan Hultman, Shannon Kennedy, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Diyang Cui, Claire Squire
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Morgan Edwards, Shannon Kennedy, Leon Clarke
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Kevin Kennedy, Wendy Jaglom, Erin Bridgwater, Randall Mendell, Haley Leslie-Bole, Lanie Rowland, Emily McGlynn, Tansy Massey-Green, Tom Cyrs, John O'Neill, Rebecca Gasper, John Feldmann, Kowan O'Keefe










