West Liberty U Unveils Affordability Plan for Underserved

(U.S.): The recently offered program is aimed at first-generation college students, older students, working adults, veterans and transfer students who are especially susceptible to the rising price of college.

Bentley U Remakes Disability Icon

With assistance from the university's Diversity Mini-Grant program, the Accessible Icon Project will repaint handicap parking spots on campus with an icon that represents independence and abilities of individuals who use wheelchairs.

Cornell U Creates Faculty Director Endowments

The original funders of the David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future are now going to gift an endowment for the center's directorship and establish a challenge campaign to endow the center's three faculty director positions. For every $2 million a donor gives for a faculty director chair, the Atkinsons will contribute another $1 million to endow each of the three faculty leadership positions that oversee the center's three main research areas: energy, the environment and economic development.

Cornell U to Install a 2MW Photovoltaic Array

The university's largest solar endeavor, the two-megawatt solar electric system will include 6,500-plus panels, 10 of which will be designated for academic use allowing students physical access to manipulate the panels and access to the web-based dashboard monitoring software.

Energy Dept Announces $4M Toward Renewable Energy

In an effort to accelerate development of marine energy systems including tidal energy, a consortium of universities will receive $4 million for research that seeks to optimize operations, reduce maintenance costs, and improve the components and performance.

Illinois Central College to Build Sustainability Center

In a recent press release, the state's governor announced $2.6 million toward the new center, which will house an alternative energy laboratory.

Loyola U Chicago Votes to End Plastic Bag Usage

Waiting to see how the administration votes on the matter, students are in favor of using compostable totes carrying a charge $0.70 per bag, which they hope will incent students to use their own reusable bags.

Montgomery County CC Honors Sustainable Food

A new focus of a Honors Colloquium, students spent time learning about sustainability issues of the modern agriculture and food system and were asked to provide possible solutions such as policy changes.

North Carolina State U Student Improves Lab Energy Efficiency

Each Friday an intern with the university's Energy Management combs energy intensive labs across campus to close fume hoods or reduce the opening and leaves a reminder card to users indicating such.

Springfield College Students Clean Local Zoo

As part of a 735-acre city park, the zoo recently hosted students from the college's Project for Sustainability club to volunteer their time with clean-up to prepare it for its opening.

Student Startups Compete for $100K in Energy Dept Competition

University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Colorado at Denver, Iowa State University and University of New Mexico were represented at the CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge. The seven groups representing the universities presented solutions to pressing sustainability issues. The winning team receives $100,000 seed funding and a chance to compete at the national competition in Washington, D.C.

SUNY Cortland Becomes Tree Campus USA

The establishment of the university's urban forest with 53 tree species recently earned it the designation and will be celebrated by a tour during the school's Green Days festival.

U Maryland Panhellenic Receives $4K for Energy Efficiency

Allowing the building to stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, the university's Fraternity and Sorority Life housing coordinator applied for the grant to install the ceramic glazing on the windows of a Panhellenic chapter house as a pilot program.

U Maryland Procures Solar Panels Jointly

Partnering with a local renewable energy-based nonprofit, seventeen university faculty and staff have recently signed up for a bulk purchase of photovoltaic panels.

U Montana Students Donate for Carbon Neutrality

As part of the student body's sustainability fee, $5,600 was used to purchase carbon offsets to meet a goal set forth to reduce carbon emissions by 10 percent from 2007 to 2015.

U Ottawa Declared Fair Trade Campus

The university recently achieved the status through increasing availability and awareness of coffee, tea and chocolate that has the Fairtrade designation.

Ursinus College Issues Green Living Certification

In an effort to grow the culture of sustainability, the four-tiered pilot program for students is designed to encourage sustainable actions across campus including residence halls, classroom, bathrooms and dining halls.

Ursinus College to Form Sustainability Committee

The new committee's primary mission will be to oversee the integration of sustainability into the life of the college and to help guide and oversee the implementation of the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan. Some of the subcommittees are tree care, sustainable student experience, sustainable facilities and energy conservation, and membership on the committees is open to campus members.

Belmont Abbey College Focuses on Affordability

A recent move to shrink general administrative costs by $1 million annually builds on the 33 percent tuition reduction last year to help the college focus on student learning and affordability.

Bucknell U Creates Sustainability Council

At the university's recent Sustainability Symposium, the president promised a ten-fold increase in green project funding and the creation of a President's Sustainability Council to address large-scale initiatives at the highest administrative level.

California State U Fullerton Students Map Campus Trees

The university's Geographic Informations Systems students have inventoried the 2,333 campus trees and produced a website where users have access to identifying information including its measurements, health and recent treatment.

Harvard U to Sign Onto Responsible Investment Guidelines

The university recently announced its decision to sign onto the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, which is a network for investors who are committed to integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into investment practices and ownership policies.

Loyola Marymount U Achieves Fair Trade Status

The recently attained designation means that the university has met the Fair Trade Campaigns five requirements including sourcing fair trade products at events and meetings and education dissemination about the benefits of fair trade.

New Mexico State U Switches to Single Stream Recycling

Aided by Coco-Cola Keep America Beautiful grant funding, 70 large recycling bins and smaller bins were placed throughout campus and residence halls with promotion of the new recycling system.

North Carolina State U EcoVillage Learns from Boston

The living and learning group recently traveled to Boston to learn how the city embraces sustainability through its Greenovate Boston program. The trip included learning about sustainability at Harvard University, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College and Boston Architectural College.

Over 89M Pounds of Material Diverted Through RecycleMania

The nationwide college and university competition to recycle and compost material had 461 participating universities that diverted over 89 million pounds during the eight-week period. Antioch University was awarded Grand Champion with the highest percentage of overall recycled waste (93 percent); Kalamazoo College won the Per Capita Classic with over 48 pounds of recyclables per person; and Valencia College won in the Waste Minimization category with 2.87 pounds of waste per person. Rutgers University won the Gorilla Prize, the highest gross tonnage of combined paper, cardboard and bottle and cans regardless of campus population, at 1.53 million pounds.

Pitzer College to Divest From Fossil Fuel Companies

The college's board of trustees just unanimously approved its Fossil Fuel Divestment-Climate Action Model, which divests nearly all the college's endowment investments by the end of 2014, develops an environmental, social and governance policy to guide investment decisions, and targets a 25 percent reduction of the college's current carbon footprint by the end of 2016.

Saint Mary's College Leverages Endowment for Social Justice

The fund initiated by the family of a college graduate who felt passionately about justice issues supports social justice-themed projects proposed by the students and recently funded a creative writing workshop with the homeless.

Stanford U Organizes Inaugural Climate Week

Part of a Stanford Green Fund Project, the university's Graduate School of Business organized the week-long series of events, which seeks to highlight the urgency and opportunity of climate change and engage the campus community in solutions-based thinking.

SUNY Oswego Implements Bike-Share Program

The new program provides refurbished bicycles to students up to a semester at a time to encourage fitness and cost savings while helping cut down on car trips.

U Colorado Colorado Springs to Host Food Celebration

The inaugural Sustainnovation celebration is an upcoming day-long series of events designed to highlight changes in food in Colorado Springs and on campus.

U Kansas Initiates Grading System for Energy Efficiency

After energy competitions proved less than desired, the university implemented a new green grading system targeting behavioral changes to reduce the amount of energy that is consumed in 39 main campus buildings.

U Maryland to Help Community Overcome Challenges

A new university program to begin in fall of 2014 called Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability will offer students the opportunity to engage with specific sustainability-related community challenges with coursework tailored to reflect those challenges.

U Maryland Uses Moss to Clean Pool

In an effort to reduce the amount of chemicals used to clean the university's pool, sphagnum moss aids in the cleaning process by stabilizing the pH, which makes the chlorine more effective.

Western Kentucky U Composts Food Waste

Recently installed into an existing university dining hall, the new food pulper/extractor takes pre and post-consumer food waste, breaks it down into small pieces, and then the material is hauled to the university's arboretum to be mixed with wood chips to create compost.

Champlain College Implements Sustainability Initiatives

The university's Sustain Champlain organization spearheaded the recent Fair Trade designation, eliminated the distribution of plastic water bottles, and initiated car sharing.

Cleveland State CC Earns Tree Campus USA

The community college was recently honored with 2013 Tree Campus USA recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management.

Oregon Passes 2 Bills to Help Students Through Higher Education

The two bills, recently signed into law by the governor, are intended to help low-income students attain a higher education credential. One bill asks for a study on the feasibility of providing free community college classes to Oregon high school graduates. The other sets aside $750,000 for low-income families.

Over 130 Universities Participate in The Real Food Calculator

Real Food Challenge recently announced that 134 universities and colleges are now using the student-designed calculator to measure and report local, fair, ecologically-sound and humane food in campus dining.

Penn State Transitions to Soy-Based Elevator Fluid

In order to lessen the environmental damage and costs associated with leaks, the university has installed the new hydraulic fluid in all campus hydraulic elevators.

San Diego State U Bolsters Support for Diversity Achievement

A recent university program, Aztec Scholars, reaches out to potential African American and American Indian students offering them a community of support to help them through their college career and successful graduation.

Syracuse U Holds Green Chemistry Workshop for Teachers

The recent teacher workshop with labs and hands-on activities targeted 24 area high schools to inspire students to pursue scientific careers and to encourage teachers to purchase more environmentally benign chemicals.

U Florida to Install Three Solar Charging Stations

Spearheaded through the university's Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the soon to be installed, clean energy charging stations will have USB ports and the capacity to charge the equivalent of one and a half laptops at a time.

U Georgia Installs Bike Repair Stations

In an effort to support the use of bikes as transportation on campus, the new repair stops contain a tire pump, basic tools and helpful instructions.

U Maryland Partners for Expansion of Regional Public Transit

The university has partnered with local groups to create the Purple Line Corridor Coalition to tackle the economic and community development challenges and benefits of the first light rail line. The goal of the group is to guide expertise in active planning to ensure that the investment creates vibrant neighborhoods while preserving existing community assets.

U New Hampshire Holds Local Foods Expo

The university's inaugural Nutritional Expo focused on the importance of local foods while raising awareness for on-campus healthy options including the Farm to UNH farm food that is served in one of its dining halls.

U Saskatchewan Commits to Building Temperature Control

In honor of International Polar Bear Day, the university announced its plans to raise the thermostat two degrees in spring and summer and one degree in winter in an effort to lower its carbon emissions from heating and cooling.

U Texas Austin Moves to Glass Collection

After switching to single stream collection of accepted recyclable material, the university amended its contract to begin glass collection due to an increase of the material on campus.

Wake Technical CC Builds New Walkways

Two new walkways were constructed that will alleviate shuttle transportation, preventing associated greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere, and encourage a healthier lifestyle.

Angelo State U Introduces New Recycling Initiatives

The university's Student Government Association partnered with other student organizations for Adopt-A-Hallway, a program designed to increase waste diversion, and new recycling-specific dumpsters have been placed across campus allowing for a more efficient diversion and pick up process.