1993 – 2006

Two Firsts...Thirty Years Apart

by Kevin Fletcher

The first time I stepped on the RPI campus was in the fall of 1993, as a graduate student in the Lally School of Management. RPI’s Environmental Management & Policy program was one of the first programs, at the time, to offer the type of degree (an early Business Sustainability degree) that I was looking for—leading edge in the business world at the time. I started that semester excited by the prospect of classes and research in this new field. Eventually, as a student I got involved in being a Research Associate, a Teaching Assistant, and even a student intern for one of the start-up companies operating out of the old Incubator Building (J Building). My exposure to real-world projects, and the professionals working on them, extended learning beyond the classroom. I stayed on as a Doctoral student after completing my Master of Science degree and eventually graduated with my Ph.D. in Management in 2006. Over the years I used my training and experiences at RPI to help lead a national environmental nonprofit, launch a start-up company, and consult all in the areas of business and sustainability. I was gradually coaxed back into academia and eventually served as Associate Professor and Chair for the School of Management for a small liberal arts college. In the Summer of 2023, I was given the chance to return to RPI—this time as faculty. The second first time I stepped onto RPI’s campus, this time to teach, was at the beginning of the Fall semester of 2023, nearly thirty years to the day that I did so as a student. The campus felt largely the same and the stairs from the main campus to the Lally School felt exactly the same (except this time with slightly older legs). I’m hopefully that this time around I’m a little bit wiser and ready to share my three decades of professional experience with the students at the beginning of their academic and professional journey.