Climate Pathfinder: A Winning Match for Athletics, Climate and Sustainability

Alumna Imani Dorsey Kunzweiler has made a difference on the field at Duke and around the country as a professional soccer player. Now she has stepped onto two new teams: Duke Athletics and the Duke Office of Climate and Sustainability.

“Through my role, if I can impact the life of one person and put this idea of sustainable athletics and environmental justice into the mind of one kid, who knows what they will accomplish and how they will help us achieve a more sustainable, equitable future for all,” she says.

Dorsey Kunzweiler is the new climate and sustainability coordinator for both units, but she’s not new to Duke. A 2018 graduate, she was a star attacking midfielder (2017 ACC Offensive Player of the Year, All-ACC Academic Team) on the Duke women’s soccer team while majoring in environmental science and policy in the Nicholas School of the Environment.

“I could have never imagined the actual depth and scope of how (Nicholas) unlocked my passion for environmental justice and sustainability,” she said. “Whether it was my marina megafauna, environmental politics, energy and the environment, or climate change dynamics, my classes kept me immensely engaged and eager to solve the world's most pressing problems.”

Returning to Duke: “Meant to Be”

After graduating and playing professional soccer for eight years, she was ready for her next chapter, but she wasn’t fully sure what it would be.

“This job opportunity genuinely fell in my lap,” she says. She had just connected with EcoAthletes, “a mix of professional and collegiate athletes advocating for environmental issues” when she was added to a group chat with alum Brandon Hersh, who previously held her role at Duke. She connected to Hersh and: “It all felt meant to be.”

Dorsey Kunzweiler is rejoining Duke after spending eight seasons as a professional soccer player in the National Women’s Soccer League, including six with Sky Blue (now Gotham FC) and two in Utah. She retired recently, not because she stopped loving the game, but because she knew it was time to start her next professional chapter.

During her time in the league, she began the Black Women’s Player Collective (BWPC). She also helped to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that put into place protections and stipulations for player wellness and safety that hadn’t existed before.

After helping navigate and negotiate that agreement, in the wake of the 2019 social justice movement and early COVID, she took the opportunity to avail herself of support for players that she helped to establish.

“I was one of the first players to take a mental health leave in our league,” she says. “I grew so much in that year.”

Imani Dorsey Kunzweiler kicks a soccer ball in a Duke shirt on the field.
Alumna Imani Dorsey Kunzweiler, Duke Athletics Climate and Sustainability Coordinator

When she returned from her leave, she tore her Achilles tendon, rehabbed and returned to play but soon found herself ready to leave the game. “I felt like I’d done everything in my sport,” she says. “I’d left it all on the field.” She’d been Rookie of the Year. She earned a spot on the US Women’s National Team. She knew it was time for what comes next. That’s when she was added to that serendipitous group chat about the role at Duke.

Connector for Athletics and Sustainability

Now, she is building a definition of what sustainability means inside Duke Athletics, alongside performance and winning. “We’re incorporating sustainability principles into the fabric of Duke Athletics; it’s a perfect fit,” she says. “We pursue the gold standard in Duke Athletics, and we’re doing it in our commitment to sustainable practices.”

Her near-term goals are practical and specific: improving energy efficiency, making upgrades like LED lighting part of every renovation plan; and addressing “food and waste” in athletics, including the “labor intensive” challenge of scaling zero-waste games. Her language keeps returning to the same idea – “ingraining,” embedding sustainability as habit, expectation and culture.

When asked about her ambitions for the job, she’s quick to answer.

“If we could do zero waste at every game,” she says, “that would be incredible.” She also is going to help move forward the Duke Climate Commitment sustainable operations goals within Duke Athletics. But her deepest ambition is civic, not operational.

“Duke Athletics has an opportunity with the Durham community to connect sport, environmental and personal health, and social justice,” Dorsey Kunzweiler says. “Yes, we do amazing equipment drives. We recycle tons of sports equipment and donate to the Durham community. But I want to do more.”

She has many goals for her new role.

“I want to use our platform of Duke Athletics to talk about things like heat exhaustion, air, water and food quality, and access to safe spaces to green spaces,” said Dorsey Kunzweiler. “Sustainability isn’t just about improving our own internal operations; it’s about taking what we learn and building out sustainable infrastructure and opportunities for the Durham community and beyond.”

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