Andrea Suarez Falken

Special Advisor for Infrastructure and Sustainability

U.S. Department of Education

Andrea Suarez Falken serves as Special Advisor for Infrastructure and Sustainability at the U.S. Department of Education, which includes overseeing the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools recognition award. This award is a communications and outreach tool responding to a widely supported public request that Andrea has built from the ground up. Beyond the recognition award, Andrea has come to lead the DOE on matters related to school environment, sustainability, and infrastructure.

Andrea began her federal tenure as a Presidential Management Fellow within the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Early in her career, she taught and translated languages in France and Spain and worked in nonprofit international education. She earned both of her degrees – a master’s from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s from Colgate University – with high honors.

Since 2014, the Washington, D.C. native has overseen the DOE’s environment, sustainability, and infrastructure portfolio from her home in northern Colorado, where her household includes two active young boys who are intrigued by the natural world and a state natural resources agency administrator. In her spare time, she enjoys distance running, commuting her boys on electric cargo bikes, skiing, and camping.