Education & Research
Curriculum
Co-Curricular Education & Student Organizing
Campus Operations
Buildings
Energy
Transportation
Waste
Planning, Administration & Engagement
Affordability & Access
Coordination & Planning
Funding
Investment
Public Engagement
New Resources
Opportunities
Jobs & Internships
| 26. | Director, Institute for Sustainable Systems, Central Michigan U |
| 27. | Assistant Director, Service and Social Justice, U Puget Sound |
| 28. | Sustainability Engineer & Assistant Program Dir., Creighton U |
| 29. | Professor, Sustainable Business, Georgia Tech |
| 30. | Professor, Diversity & Community Studies, Western Kentucky U |
| 31. | Sustainability Officer, Arizona State U |
| 32. | Temporary Position in Environmental Studies, U Minnesota Morris |
Events
Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums Highlights
Education & Research
Curriculum
The college’s new master’s degree in environmental and natural resources law, set to launch this fall, will provide an opportunity for students interested in learning about environmental law but who are not interested in practicing law.
See also: AASHE Resource: Sustainability-Focused Masters Degree Programs
The university has approved a new major in sustainable food and farming, to begin in Fall 2013. Originally offered as a concentration within the Plant and Soil Sciences major, the program has grown from five students in 2003 to seventy-five in 2013.
See also: AASHE Resource: Sustainability-Focused Baccalaureate Degree Programs
Electrical engineering students have partnered with Sullivan Solar Power to create a senior design project. The renewable energy company is providing a group of students, called “Growing in Solar,” guidance and counsel on a weekly basis to analyze the design and implementation of solar technology. The company has also provided students two sets of solar panels for research.
Co-Curricular Education & Student Organizing
With support from the university’s Sustainability Office, North Carolina State Stewards will promote sustainable practices among their peers and the community through workshops, presentations and campus events. 2013-14 will be the first full academic year of the program, which was piloted this year.
Two students seeking to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in the Memphis, TN area created The Bridge, a new street paper. Street vendors, who themselves are homeless, will be able to purchase copies of the publication for a quarter each and sell them for a dollar a piece. The vendors will be able to keep 100 percent of the profits.
The Student Senate has passed a resolution that supports all public relations efforts to promote sustainability on campus. The resolution states the senate supports reducing costs of beverages when students use their own containers, the placement of more recycling bins in residence halls, the use of recyclable containers for all to-go meals in dining facilities and the exploration of a more efficient watering system on campus.
In an effort to create awareness for campus sustainability initiatives, the Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble held a “Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle” themed concert. The band performed compositions from notable composers that aligned with the theme and the older songs were ‘reused’ and performed in new ways.
Campus Operations
Buildings
Marsh Hall’s sustainable features include solar panels, green roofs, low-flow plumbing and a vegetated swale water-reclamation system.
See also: AASHE Resource: Green Residence Halls (member resource)
The university’s Williamson College of Business Administration features passive solar design, low-flow plumbing and a ventilation system that allows for 30 percent more airflow through the building.
Energy
The university has announced plans to spend $30 million on energy conservation projects over the next five years. The roughly 60 projects, which will help improve energy efficiency, heating and cooling systems, and waste management, are projected to reduce emissions by more than 50,000 metric tons of CO2
Transportation
The university has switched to a 20 percent biodiesel blend for its campus shuttles.
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus Biodiesel Fleets (member resource)
The college has begun installing 10 electric vehicle charging stations at four of its campuses. The stations will be available to the public at the same rate as visitor parking fees. The chargers are part of a British Columbia Ministry of Environment’s initiative to have stations installed province-wide.
Waste
The university’s Campus Recycling has created a visual representation of how quickly recyclable materials can accumulate over the course of one month. The 16-foot high campus sculpture, entitled “It All Adds Up,” is comprised of four weeks’ worth of recycled #1 and #2 plastics collected on campus. The project was created to coincide with the university's RecycleMania efforts.
Planning, Administration & Engagement
Affordability & Access
The Aspen Institute has awarded this year’s Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence to Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College. The Aspen Prize was designed to recognize community colleges with strong records of preparing students for jobs or transfer to four-year colleges, as well as attracting and graduating low-income and minority students.
The university debuted a textbook reserve program in the fall of 2012 after a student-led survey revealed that 14 percent of students surveyed knew at least one student who dropped out of school because they could not afford to purchase textbooks. The university spent approximately $10,500 to purchase 170 textbooks for the most in-demand courses on campus and place them on reserve in the library for student use. More than 850 students have made use of the reserve program, saving an estimated $300 each semester.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a second case involving affirmative action in higher education. In October, the justices heard arguments in a case dealing with the University of Texas’ race-conscious admissions program. This one, from Michigan, tests whether voters, by referendum, can bar affirmative action programs in higher education.
Coordination & Planning
The Campus Sustainability Council has released a drat report that outlines recommendations for the university to improve sustainability on campus. The Office of Sustainability will gather feedback from the campus community to determine if additional changes will need to be considered.
Funding
The university has received a gift of $51,000 to encourage energy efficiency by retrofitting the central processing plant on campus. The project is expected to save the university $171,000 in energy costs over a period of 10 years.
Investment
On March 27, students from across the country participated in Fossil Fools Day, the first national day of action for the Fossil Free Canada campaign, an initiative led by the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. More than a dozen campuses held marches and rallies in an effort to urge their university administrators to divest their endowments from fossil fuel and pipeline companies.
Divest McGill, a group of students and alumni, have presented the university’s board of governors with a petition of more than 700 signatures asking the governing body to remove companies that develop, transport, refine or sell oil from Canada’s oilsands from the university’s financial holdings.
Public Engagement
The college has announced plans to open a Sustainability Resource Center this year. The center will provide resources and training for teachers at all grade levels and delivery of sustainability learning modules to students both at the college and local schools. MidAmerican Solar, SunPower power plant solar solutions and NRG Energy financed the project.
The university's PowerSave Campus program and The Green Initiative Fund have published a guide to direct student groups through the process of creating and running energy-savings competitions within college or university Greek systems. The guide is based on Green Cup, a Greek energy-savings competition at the university.
Taking place June 7-9 at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, this workshop will introduce systematic efforts to break through the current curricular and operational paradigms and form a new model for both education and sustainability action—the campus living lab. Participants will leave with: a plan and a set of actions/strategies for implementing a campus living lab; a deep understanding about the underlying theory and value proposition in implementing a sustainability living lab on campus; a clear typology and definition for a living lab program and courses that increase sustainability education; a network of peers; and more. The deadline to register is April 23.
Themed “Sharing Learning: Lessons from the Sustainability Community,” the September 2013 International Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) conference invites abstracts from the sustainability community on some of the key sustainability challenges facing professionals, managers, facilities, academics and researchers. The call for presentations, papers, and posters will remain open through May.
ARAMARK has partnered with the Student Conservation Association to hire 27 part- and full-time paid sustainability interns across the country starting in May. Projects will include nutrition education, sourcing local food, improving waste management practices and more.
April 23, 2013; 2:00 pm Eastern; Online
Host: AASHE
April 12-14, 2013; Portland OR
Host: Lewis & Clark College
April 29-May 1, 2013; Berkeley, CA
Host: Berkely-Haas Center for Responsible Business
| Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums Highlights |
Click on the titles below to view the full discussion thread.
I'm looking for information on filing shareholder resolutions. Our Socially Responsible Investing Committee is navigating how to address climate change in the most proactive way possible. Has your school done this? It sounds very time intensive (as opposed to proxy voting)—is this true? I would love to hear anything about your experience.
My university is looking to write a new janitorial bid spec. We are currently purchasing about 45 percent (item quantity, not cost) green/recycled items. Does anyone have a baseline, or "gold standard" for top tier institutions? For example, gold standard is 65 percent, or 80 percent, etc. I have not been able to find anything to compare against.
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