Harvard comes to Filogaso: leading North American professors visit the Fondazione Augurusa

The third edition of the Social Impact Manager program comes to a close. Sarrinikolaou: “A model to export to North America”

September 29, 2026

“George Sarrinikolaou is a Bostonian by adoption but with Greek roots; it may well have been his Mediterranean spirit that brought him to Filogaso, in the Calabrian hinterland, to encounter a reality that is rewriting the narrative of Southern Italy and its marginalized areas. For over a decade, he served as Director of the Office of Academic and Research Programs at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and worked as a journalist for CNN and the New York Times, with a past as a climate change activist. Today, George Sarrinikolaou directs the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University. Since May, he has also joined the faculty of the Fondazione Antonio Emanuele Augurusa’s Green Social Impact Manager program, the free program that brings together young graduates and professionals in social impact and environmental sustainability in Calabria for an intensive advanced training course.

A first meeting in the United States with Francesco Augurusa, president of the foundation named in memory of his younger brother Antonio, was enough to spark the professional connection that led to this collaboration. From there came the proposal to teach, in Filogaso, in the province of Vibo Valentia, the topics that are now at the forefront of global attention. “It’s rare to find something like this—perhaps it’s even unique.”

said Sarrinikolaou. “This program is truly enriching for the students who take part in it. They have learned aspects of sustainability and its management that they could not have absorbed in a traditional university setting. This shows that the Fondazione Augurusa is doing something valuable for the people it serves.” …