U Washington Approves Diversity Graduation Requirement
The student-led effort will require all undergraduates to complete three credits of coursework that focus on the sociocultural, political and economic diversity of human experience at local, regional or global scales.
Vassar College Students Keep Unwanted Items from Landfill
Hundreds of pounds of clothing, appliances and other household items left behind as students recently moved out of the dorms were collected, sorted and donated to local nonprofit agencies by the college's SWAPR (Students With a Purpose Recycling) team. Before SWAPR started 13 years ago, the college would deploy 20 extra dumpsters outside the dorms to handle the flood of discarded material at the end of every school year. This year, says a Vassar College Committee on Sustainability intern, they only needed three to four.
Black Hills State U Debuts New Sustainability Master's Degree
Offered entirely online, the Master of Science in Sustainability is designed to provide students with an understanding of environmental (natural) systems, economic and social systems, legal frameworks, and policy making to help organizations meet sustainability related challenges.
Montgomery County CC Adds Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
The campus partnered with ECOtality, which received a $114.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to install vehicle chargers in nine states and the District of Columbia, to add two 240-volt pedestal charging stations to campus.
Northern Arizona U Debuts Carbon Neutral Laundry Program
The Lighten Our Load initiative, a partnership between the university's Housing and Residence Life and Mac-Gray Campus Solutions, includes new water- and energy-efficient laundry machines in residence halls that are expected to offset nearly 800,000 pounds of carbon dioxide produced on campus.
Oklahoma State U Student Spearheads Tornado Relief Efforts
Entrepreneurship graduate student Jonathon Button is donating a percentage of the sales of bracelets from his website, Life Out of the Box, to the United Way May Tornado Relief Fund. Button moved to Nicaragua a year ago to create his business, which sells products that help fund school supplies for children in need.
Towson U 'Trash-to-Treasure' Event Raises $3K for Sustainability
Staff, faculty, and community members bought items left behind during the student move-out at bargain prices, raising $3,007 for campus sustainability initiatives in areas including environmental education, recycling and renewable energy. Items left after the sale were donated to local charities and electronics were recycled through National Reclamation.
U California Davis Opens Net Zero Winery
The one-story, 8,500 square-foot building will eventually house equipment and systems for capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide from wine fermentation, and for filtering and recirculating water for wine, beer and food processing. Made possible by a $3 million pledge from the late Jess Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke, of Jackson Family Wines, the winery is expected to be certified Net Zero Energy under the Living Building Challenge.
U Iowa College of Public Health Earns LEED Platinum
Sustainability features include reflective roofing, natural lighting, storm drainage that uses vegetation and landscaping rather than curbs and gutters, low maintenance and zero irrigation landscape design, waste reduction and recycling practices, occupancy sensors in offices and other common areas to provide lighting as needed, proximity to public transportation routes, and water use reduction through low-flow plumbing.
U Iowa Study: Social Responsibility Leads to Economic Stability
Firms that make greater investments in corporate social responsibility initiatives see less risk in their stock prices during economic downturns, according to a new study by the university's assistant professor of finance. The research looked at the stock prices of 3,005 firms from 34 countries between 2004 and 2010, factoring in the social and environmental risk factors of each company including labor relations, health and safety, recruitment and retention strategies, progressive workplace practices, and environmental and climate risk.
Western Washington U Brings Local Food to Campus
After a successful pilot period, the university's Viking Supported Agriculture Program is now available to all students, faculty and staff on campus. The joint collaboration between the university's Office of Sustainability, Students for Sustainable Foods and Growing Washington will offer locally grown produce on a weekly basis to subscribers.
Appalachian State U Kicks Off Sustainability Awards Program
With nine recipients in the inaugural year, the university's new awards program recognizes individuals and groups that have made outstanding efforts to initiate or support sustainability efforts on campus or in the community. Recipients were noted for leadership, waste reduction and recycling, water quality work, research advancements, and activism.
Denison U 'Operation Move Out' Donates Unwanted Student Items
As students recently moved out of the dorms, several local agencies like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and New Beginnings Shelter and Services were invited to the residence halls to look for donated usable items like couches, TVs, coffee makers and refrigerators.
Middlebury Students Collect 1,150 Signatures for 'Real Food'
Middlebury College student group EatReal, which promotes conscientious consumption among the student body, recently collected 1,150 student signatures in support of allocating more of the college’s total budget to Dining Services to increase the purchasing of local foods as part of Real Food Week ’13. The campaign aimed to raise awareness about local food issues through food-related events and educational experiences.
Saint Mary's College Debuts Windmill at Legacy Garden
Spearheaded by the college's Green Living/Learning Community, the windmill charges a 12-volt car battery in a waterproof case that powers lights for about 18 hours, and automatically shuts off when the power drops too low. Student Charles Ahrens Feldman, part of the Green Living/Learning Community, chipped in $400 of his own money for the windmill project and was later repaid by the college through a Syufy Grant.
Stanford U Students Campaign for Fossil Fuel Divestment
The group aims to convince university officials to freeze all new fossil fuel investments and to fully divest from fossil fuel companies within the next five years. The group's online petition to rally support from the campus community and make students more aware of the divestment movement recently reached 1,045 signatures.
U Buffalo Wins National Sustainability Awards Contest
The university's Campus Dining and Shops was recently recognized in the "Outreach and Education" category of the National College and University Food Service Association’s Sustainability Awards contest. The university earned the honor for its participation in the New York State “Pride of New York” program, which promotes and supports the sale of agricultural products produced and processed within the state.
UC Berkeley Graduate Student Awarded Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship
Architecture graduate student Antony Kim and his faculty mentor are one of 10 teams selected worldwide for the new Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship. Focused on finding self-sustaining sources of lighting in low-income housing developments, their project will look at incorporating natural and LED lighting that is more affordable for developers and aesthetically pleasing for occupants.
UC Davis Earns 5th LEED Platinum Certification
The university's new Student Community Center features low-flow water fixtures, hydration stations, high-efficiency lighting, a lawn-less landscape of drought-tolerant plants and permeable paving, and computers powered partly by solar energy. During construction, students from the campus Waste Reduction and Recycling program developed a job-site composting program, and builders also donated scrap materials to the university’s student-run Aggie ReUse Store.
U Utah Residence Hall Receives LEED Gold
The residence hall's high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, heat recovery system, occupancy sensors, and natural day lighting and ventilation have exceeded minimum efficiency standards by more than 30 percent with $55,000 in annual energy savings.
Kalamazoo Valley CC Announces Wellness, Sustainable Food Focus
In partnership with Bronson Healthcare Group and the Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the college has announced plans for a new culinary and wellness campus focused on community wellness and sustainable food production.
Luther College Completes $750K Campus Energy Efficiency Makeover
By the end of the month, the college's Baker Village commons building will have its own 20-kilowatt solar array, marking the end of a $750,000 U.S. Department of Energy award in support of the college's plan to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2015. With the funding, the college has also established an energy and waste steward position, and renovated two major residence halls with water-efficient flush toilets, improved HVAC systems and energy-efficient windows.
Maharishi U Mgmt Student Debuts Restorative Agriculture Project
Sustainable Living student Jacob Krieger has launched Greener Pastures, a senior project aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of restorative agriculture, which allows soil to retain its natural fertility so that tillage and chemicals aren't necessary, on up to 2,000 acres of local pasture and hay fields by December 2014.
McGill U Launches Green Building Analysis Tool
The Material Analysis Tool, available to the public, is designed to help university staff and contractors select more environmentally friendly materials for new construction and renovation projects. The online ranking system considers manufacturer certification, durability, health impacts, rapidly renewable content, recycled content, recyclability and region of manufacture and extraction.
New Mexico State U Named 'Bronze Bicycle Friendly'
The designation from the League of American Bicyclists recognizes the university’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.
North Carolina State U Recycling Site Diverts 93% Waste
Ninety-three percent of the campus yard waste, scrap metal, wooden pallets, used tires, discarded electronics and more at the university's Dearstyne Roll-off Convenience Site are reused or recycled. The site is part of the university’s goal is to increase the overall diversion rate of campus waste from landfills to 65 percent from the current 50 percent. **
Regional Student Winners Named in Clean Energy Biz Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy has named six student teams to advance to the final level of the National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. The teams from Northwestern University, North Carolina A&T University, Purdue University, Brigham Young University, University of Arkansas and the University of California, Berkeley will compete for technical, design, public relations and legal assistance to help commercialize their technology.
Responsible Purchasing On the Rise Among Higher Ed Students
With $147 billion in spending power, according to a recent USA Today article, students have the financial power to make an impact when it comes to the responsible purchasing practices of campuses. Students, says the article, are becoming increasingly aware and active about choosing products that support workers with living wages and reduce environmental impacts.
Strayer U Announces 'Graduation Fund,' Tuition Freeze
For every three classes a new student successfully completes, the university will place a tuition award in their Graduation Fund to cover the cost of one future class. The university has also announced a tuition freeze for currently enrolled students, and no tuition increases for 2014.
U California Santa Barbara Students Address Diversity, Safety
The Associated Students Office of the President recently held a town hall meeting to address diversity, representation and marginalization in the campus community. The "Raise Your Voice!" event provided an open forum for students to address university administration about university-wide policies regarding issues of sexual violence, and retention and recruitment aimed at promoting diversity.
Winona State U Student Initiates Campus Diversity Center
Spearheaded by graduating senior Jake Hite, the KEAP (Knowledge, Empowerment, Advocacy and Pluralism) Diversity Center for students, faculty and staff will help address issues surrounding diverse populations in the campus community.
College Divestment Campaigns Shaping Passionate Environmentalists
A recent National Public Radio story focuses on how student-driven fossil fuel divestment campaigns on about 300 campuses across the country are helping to prepare the environmental leaders of the next generation. "It's been really exciting for me to feel like this is the first time where I've seen how I can directly make a difference on my campus and force my administration to make a decision that could have reverberations around the country," says Brown University senior Emily Kirkland in the article.
