From Recognition to Global Stewardship: Genell Wells Ebbini
After receiving the Women in Sustainability Leadership Award in 2019, Genell Wells Ebbini’s work evolved beyond practice into something deeper—stewardship, mentorship, and global collaboration. Susan Bang sits down with Genell Wells Ebbini to discuss how WSLA continues to influence her leadership, her work, and the way she prepares others for the responsibility of sustainability.
Q. You’ve indicated that the WSLA community has been a meaningful part of your professional journey, We’d like to highlight that journey since receiving your WSLA recognition in 2019. How has the award influenced your work and leadership globally since then?
I had practiced sustainability for nearly 20 years prior to receiving the WSLA Award in 2019. It validated my work, but more importantly it helped me transition from teaching sustainability primarily as a practitioner to approaching it as stewardship, as a mentor and guide. It also encouraged me to focus more intentionally on global work, examining sustainability in context of place and scale.
In 2023, based on my credentials and global work in sustainability and the built environment, I was selected for the U.S. Fulbright Specialist Program roster, which offers a unique opportunity for U.S. academics and established professionals to engage in project-based exchanges across global institutions. Later that year, I was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant to complete a project in Jordan with the Royal Scientific Society on capacity building for sustainable human health and well-being frameworks. Receiving the WSLA Award strengthened my professional credibility at a key moment and reinforced the trust needed for cross-cultural, institution-based collaborations, which made a meaningful difference during the roster and project selection process.
In 2024–2025, I was honored to receive a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award that enabled me to spend 10 months in the Sultanate of Oman, hosted by the University of Nizwa. There, I taught and collaborated with colleagues on research focused on human well-being in urban development, grounded in a socio-cultural sustainability context. That experience clarified the type of global, applied work I want to keep building, and strengthened the partnerships that make it possible. It also led me to launch MYRA Group Global, LLC in 2025 to sustain the work between funding cycles and keep partnerships and capacity building moving.
Back at Purdue University, this work continues through research and teaching. This spring, senior interior design students in my studio are collaborating on a real, place-based sustainability project in Oman, sponsored by Al Awalim, Architecture and Planning, an Omani firm I collaborated with during my Fulbright fellowship.
Q. How has the award impacted your career since you joined the WSLA Alumnae Group?
Since joining the WSLA Alumnae Group, the award has impacted my career in very practical ways. I joined the group’s mentoring committee, and it connected me to a community I could turn to at pivotal moments and that experience quickly became more than service.
When I was considering a career move, I met with WSLA Alumnae Group President Rochelle Routman among other alumnae to discuss best steps, receiving generous guidance about the long-arc of work, staying anchored in purpose, and making decisions that matched my values. The advice was given so freely, and it shaped me. That experience influences how I mentor now, both with my students and in broader knowledge-sharing and preparing for the next generation.
Because sustainability is a global challenge, I try to prepare the next generation on how we hold responsibility for the kind of future we are shaping, and to understand sustainability through ethics, social justice, and lived realities of place and culture. That is the mentoring model I try to carry forward. That mentoring approach has become one of the most lasting ways the award and the alumnae community have shaped my career.
Q. How has WSLA supported your leadership?
Being involved in WSLA mentoring committee taught me a lot about the continuity of leadership. Receiving the award is not an end point. It is an invitation to keep growing and to give back.
WSLA has supported my leadership by fostering a community rooted in trust, shared learning, and mentorship across place. It’s not only where I’ve received guidance, but where I’ve learned how to offer it—how to show up for others and help strengthen leadership capacity across cultures and contexts. That ethic of reciprocity—support received and support offered—is central to how WSLA has shaped my leadership.
Through this community, we build the trust and shared understanding needed to lead in global, cross-cultural settings, grounded in mentoring relationships and a shared commitment to purpose-driven work.
Q. What has been being part of this unique community meant to you?
It has given me a place to think out loud about what sustainability leadership really asks of us, not just professionally, but ethically, on a global scale. WSLA has been a grounding support network for questioning my role in a sustainable future and for staying anchored in social justice and responsibility when the work feels complex or uncertain. I value that this community understands the work as larger than any single role or project, and holds the broader ethical meaning of what we do.
That grounding has felt even more important in a changing global environment, as external conditions shift, funding for research and global outreach is less consistent, and priorities continue to evolve. In that environment, the work we do as women leaders in sustainability matters even more.
Because my work sits at the intersection of professional practice, applied research, and higher education, there is an increased demand for clarity and accountability. It is in moments like this that how we mentor and teach sustainability, and how we communicate its global relevance across scale and discipline, becomes part of the leadership itself. That is a foundational part of what I receive through the WSLA Alumnae community.
Q. What would you say to emerging sustainability leaders who seek to pursue the accolade?
As I tell my students and colleagues, trust your direction and be clear about what you are trying to serve, because sustainability is not just a career path. It is a global responsibility. It can be hard to know what this work really asks for, so stay grounded in purpose, not just job opportunity. Do not chase the accolade as a trophy. Let it reflect the work you are already committed to, especially the slow parts: listening, building trust, and staying with complex problems. Be authentic, not apologetic. And do the work with rigor, humility, and care.
Genell Wells Ebbini is an Assistant Professor at Purdue University, environmental design researcher, and founder of MYRA Group Global. A U.S. Fulbright Scholar & Specialist, her work focuses on advancing sustainable, human-centered built environments through research, global collaboration, and evidence-based design.