Dear Environment & Sustainability Program Community, 

Fall 2025 in our Program was a sad time that continues to reverberate. We lost a dedicated and talented member of our Program: Dr. Sarah Praskievicz died at home in Greensboro on August 11, 2025, after a courageous 15-month battle with cancer. She was 39 years young. For context, Sarah was in middle school when UNCG established the Environmental Studies Program. Beginning with her arrival in 2018, she was an integral part of everything we did as the Environment & Sustainability Program in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability (GES): she helped design our M.S. in Sustainability & Environment, she mentored and inspired students in our B.A. in Environment & Sustainability, and she was a driving force behind every aspect of our NEH-funded Cape Fear Watershed Project (CFWP).

Students called her Dr. Sarah, and they found in her a guide for their classroom, field, and river experiences. Stephanie Stephens, the Riverkeeper of the Deep River Riverkeeper (which grew out of the CFWP), worked with Sarah on research projects during both her B.A. and M.S. in our Program. Stephanie said: “I hoped to work with her again and learn from her more; I am who I am today in large part because of her guidance and belief in me.”  

Not a day goes by when we’re not reminded of how integral Sarah was in the Environment & Sustainability Program during the six years we worked closely together. We miss her dearly. Sarah embodied all that is great about what we do in environmental and sustainability studies: she was a field scientist with a humanist’s heart, a poet who could also calculate hydrogeomorphological impacts, a serious field worker dedicated to protecting people and nature who also had a contagious laugh and never-ending smile. It’s shocking to think that just a few summers ago, together with faculty and some of you, we were adventuring down the Cape Fear River (Dr. Allen's ten-year-old son was her canoe mate on that trip). Some of her work, together with reflections and observations by faculty and students, can be found in this CFWP Story Map.

Please take a moment to remember Dr. Sarah Praskivicz by reading more about her at the memorial site that GES has established.

As some of you may know, among the things Sarah was most passionate about are rivers and travel. Accordingly, GES is  seeking to fund two related initiatives: 

1.) Stream restoration signage honoring Sarah along a portion of the nearly completed Downtown Greenway near UNCG’s campus. Sarah was instrumental in providing technical guidance for a recent stream rehabilitation along the path of the Greenway. 

2.) Establishment of a fund in Sarah's academic department (GES) to help offset costs for students participating in summer field courses the department runs to various national and international locales. 

We would be grateful for any contribution you might make in memory of Sarah for either or both initiatives. We are hoping to cover the signage costs first, with excess funds going either to additional greenway improvements (tree planting) or into the travel fund. Should you decide to contribute, please earmark your donation however you would like.

The link for donations is here and below. The portal will give you the opportunity to describe what you would like your gift to be used for ("Gift Comments"); please be sure to do that, and include Sarah's name and any further detail in the space provided. Following that, you should check the box indicating that the gift is in memory of someone ("Honor or Memorial Gifts"; please check "memorial"). On the next page presented, type "Sarah Praskievicz" into the "Memorial Gift Information" space. Please do not check the box to send a letter on your behalf. After receiving donations, we will send a personal letter to Sarah's parents documenting the contributions by name (not amount), so that they will not be flooded with donation reporting letters from UNCG. 

No longer having Sarah with us has been very difficult for GES, so we're hopeful that we can memorialize her career, community service, and life in some small way through these initiatives.  

Aaron S. Allen, Ph.D., F.A.A.R.

Professor and Director, Environment & Sustainability Program

Dan Royall, Ph.D. 

Professor and Head 

Department of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability