Cedarville U Announces Solar Power Installation
The university has announced plans to construct a 2,154-kilowatt solar array. A new, underground utility corridor for the solar array will allow the zero emission solar source to feed electricity to the university's distribution system. The system will include monitoring and display features that support the university's curriculum.
Colorado State U Receives Grant to Help Low-Income Students
The university’s Academic Advancement Center has received a $377,282 grant to help students who are low-income, first-generation or disabled transition into academic life and succeed. The funding was one of 1,021 continuation awards given by the Department of Education to universities across the nation as part of a total $2.5 million commitment that supports 202,750 students overall.
Colorado State U to Install New Solar Array
The university has reached an agreement with Namaste Solar to install a solar array on campus. Electricity generated from the array will be sold to the City of Fort Collins as part of a new solar energy purchasing program.
Columbia College Chicago Receives Grant to Expand Compost Program
The college has received a grant by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to implement a more comprehensive composting program across campus. This $5,000 grant will allow the college to reach more of the campus with the goal of diverting 13 tons of food scrap waste from landfills in 2012-2013, almost double the 2011-2012 academic year’s achievement of seven tons.
Grand Valley State U Field Earns Sustainable Site Certification
The Student Recreation Fields has received certification by the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a pilot program that is creating national guidelines for sustainable land design. The project was judged based on efforts in categories such as site selection, pre-design assessment and planning, water, soil and vegetation, material selection, human health and well-being, operations and maintenance, and monitoring and innovation.
Humboldt State U Introduces 2 Green Certification Programs
The Sustainability Office has launched the Green Room Certification and the Green Events Certification programs. In partnership with Residence Life, the Green Room Certification program awards a certificate to students who minimize their environmental impact through green living practices. The Green Event Certification program awards a certificate to campus groups and departments that implement zero waste measures at events.
Kennebec Valley CC Awarded Grant to Create Sustainable Ag Program
The college has received a $100,000 grant from Jane’s Trust to help launch a two-year sustainable agriculture degree program. The funding will be used to hire a farm manager and equipment. The program’s curriculum will include classes in soil, plant and animal science, crop production, integrated pest management, farm infrastructure and sustainable livestock management.
Long Beach City College to Improve Graduation Rates for Latinos
The college, in partnership with Cal State Long Beach and the Long Beach Unified School, has launched a new program designed to improve success for Latinos in higher education. The Latino Student Success Institute will host nine learning sessions for community organizations that are interested in participating. Participants will receive a certificate in Latino cultural competency from the college's Center for Training and Professional Development.
Middlebury College to Consider Fossil Fuel Divestment
The college has announced that it will initiate steps to address the feasibility of divesting its endowment from the fossil fuel industry. College President Ronald Liebowitz explained that the college would host a series of panels on divestment with representatives from the college’s endowment management firm, along with Scholar-in-Residence Bill McKibben, and veteran investors. President Liebowitz also disclosed the percentage of the institution’s $900 million endowment currently invested in fossil fuel companies: roughly 3.6 percent or $32 million.
Niagara College Center Earns CarbonZero Status
The college’s Wine Visitor + Education Center has earned CarbonZero Certified status. This achievement means the carbon emissions resulting from the operations of the educational facility have been quantified, audited and offset. The carbonZero program was established in 2001 by Landcare Research New Zealand Limited, to provide robust tools for individuals, organizations and events to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint with the highest level of credibility and integrity.
Northern Arizona U Builds Bike-Powered Charging Station
After nearly a year of planning and construction, a group of students have unveiled a bicycle-powered charging station that will be used to charge small electronic devices and raise student awareness about their energy consumption. The university’s Green Fund provided $2,900 for building materials, and the Yellow Bike program donated the bike for the project.
Northwestern U Helps Reduce Off-Campus Students Energy, Water Use
The Associated Student Government’s Sustainability Committee has created an initiative to provide free compact fluorescent light bulbs and water-efficient showerheads to all students living off campus. The committee currently has 700 light bulbs and 200 showerheads, and 300 students have signed up to receive the packages.
Princeton U to Examine College Access for Lower-Income Students
A new university committee will examine strategies to help low-income students overcome barriers to college readiness and access. The Trustee Ad Hoc Committee on College Access will consider a range of factors, beyond just financial means, that may impede low-income students from pursuing an education at selective universities and colleges.
Private College Presidents Urge a Commitment to Need-Based Aid
A group of private-college presidents have unveiled a pledge publicly opposing the rising use of merit-based financial aid and the decline in need-based aid at the Council of Independent Colleges’ annual Presidents Institute. The statement emerges amid concerns among some administrators that the increased competition among colleges for enrollment has led to more resources going into "merit based" aid for top students, many of whom don't require financial aid to afford college, and to a decline in "need-based" aid for promising lower-income students.
U Calgary Implements New Recycling Program
The university’s Students’ Union has introduced biodegradable cutlery and “compost educators” to the Student Center in an effort to reduce waste on campus. The compost educators program will place staff hired by the Students’ Union near garbage cans in the food court to demonstrate proper waste disposal.
U Connecticut's Laurel Hall Receives LEED Gold
The university’s social science and humanities classroom building features a green roof, energy-saving window glazing, low-flow valves and faucets, high-performance insulation, and use of rapidly renewable materials such as bamboo, recycled copper, and other sustainable materials.
U Dayton Creates Exhibit to Teach Students About Water Resources
Developed by students in the university’s Rivers Institute, the RiverMobile is a traveling exhibit converted from a semi-trailer that highlights the history, benefits and preservation of the Great Miami River watershed. Its threefold mission is to develop pride for the region, provide knowledge about Dayton's river system and water resources, and foster personal responsibility for the protection of local water resources and the environment. The learning studio will travel throughout the region to guide groups of schoolchildren through five learning classrooms.
U Guelph Releases Sustainability Progress Report
The Sustainability Office has published a 2011-2012-progress report summarizing current sustainability initiatives on campus and gains made since the Presidential Task Force on Sustainability released its recommendations in 2010.
U Nebraska, Nebraska State Colleges Agree to Tuition Freeze
The University of Nebraska and the Nebraska State College systems have agreed to implement a two-year tuition freeze for students. As a result, Governor Dave Heineman will propose to the legislature that state funding for the University of Nebraska system increase from $498 million to $541 million and that the state appropriation for the Nebraska State College System increase from $45.5 million to $49.6 million.
Appalachian State U Students to Fund Renewable Energy Research
The student-run Renewable Energy Initiative has partnered with the University Research Council to support faculty research. Each entity will provide $5,000 per semester for faculty awards. The initiative launches this spring with four faculty awards: two at $5,000 and four at $2,500. The faculty recipients must pursue research that is related to renewable energy and is applicable to the Appalachian campus or its carbon footprint.
Cornell U Students Create Meditation Room
Students in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis have designed and built a meditation and reflection space. Students applied lessons from practitioners of Zen, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist meditation and prayer about their faith’s mindfulness rituals to construct a room open to people of all religions and cultures. Applying universal design principles, the students also ensured that the area accommodates people with disabilities.
Cuyahoga CC Health and Science Building Earns LEED Gold
The Westshore Campus Health Careers and Sciences building features daylight harvesting, native landscaping that eliminates the need for irrigation, 40 percent reduction in energy use and 47 percent reduction in water usage over current required standards.
Harvard U Releases Sustainability Impact Report
The university has released its first sustainability impact report that provides a campus-wide snapshot of the progress that has been made to reduce the campus’ environmental footprint and increase its operational efficiency. Available online, the report includes data on greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and transportation, as well as infographics, multi-media stories, and progress timelines.
Montana State U Promotes Sustainable Transportation
The university’s Campus Sustainability Advisory Council and Western Transportation Institute, along with the City of Bozeman, have announced a challenge to promote more sustainable transportation choices in the greater Bozeman area. The Drive Less-Save More Challenge is a friendly competition between businesses, institutions and government agencies that is intended to help reduce times when employees drive alone. The challenge runs from Jan. 10 through Feb. 10.
Oberlin College Plants Trees in Carbon Offsetting Initiative
Students have planted 26 new trees as part of a larger Carbon Offsetting Initiative designed to create ways to offset the college’s carbon output. Students and administrators had already planted the first tree of the project in September. With the addition of 30 trees planted in collaboration with the Oberlin Rotary Club and the city of Oberlin, the project now totals 57 new trees in the Oberlin area.
Oberlin College to Invest Student Fee Surplus in Local Community
The Board of Trustees has approved the College and Community Investment Plan, a resolution to invest a residual portion of the Student Activity Fund in certificates of deposit (CDs) with the Ohio Educational Credit Union (OHECU). Since OHECU is a local credit union, money invested in these CDs will be lent out to local businesses and individuals in the community. The Student Finance Committee and the Responsible Investing Organization, a student group that advocates for the college to bank and invest more responsibly, proposed this resolution.
Olivet Nazarene U Sustainable Building Earns Incentives
The university’s new Student Life and Recreation Center has received $276,476 in financial incentives through Commonwealth Edison Company’s “Smart Ideas for Your Business” New Construction Service. The facility features a high performance building design and green features including an advanced geothermal system for efficient heating and cooling.
Purdue U Partners with U West Indies for Clean Energy Effort
Purdue University and the University of the West Indies have formed a partnership designed to boost clean energy efforts in the Caribbean and Central America. The project will develop a solar energy demonstration site at UWI's St. Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago. The 18-month project will include solar power research and a regional conference for education, government and corporate leaders.
Texas A&M U Installs Green Roof
A section of a campus building’s rooftop has been transformed into a green roof with succulents, grasses and a weather station by an interdisciplinary group of students in phase one of a three-year research initiative. The project also calls for students to design and build a living wall, a vegetated wall that achieves benefits similar to green roofs and investigate its performance.
TIME Spotlights Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement
A recent TIME article profiles the rise of divestment campaigns as the next frontier for climate activism. In response to the lack of support from university and college administrators, the article reports ". . .for many college students today, there’s no cause greater than fighting climate change. University presidents who don’t fall in line should get used to hearing protests outside their offices. Just like their forerunners in the apartheid battles of the 1980s, these climate activists won’t stop until they win.”
U Alberta Creates Green Spaces Certification Program
The university has launched a new Green Spaces Certification program. The program is a three-level, voluntary certification process that encourages people in work, school, and living spaces on campus to adopt sustainable practices and green their work unit and events. Upon submission of a completed checklist, the work unit is recognized as a Green Space with Bronze, Silver, or Green & Gold certification.
U Calgary Students Hold Waste-Free Athletics Event
A kinesiology class of 50 students partnered with the university’s athletic department to hold a waste-free event at a basketball game. The project diverted 67 percent of waste through a number of measures including offering free popcorn to fans who brought their own container.
U Pennsylvania to Open Green Nanotechnology Center
The university has announced it will open a research facility designed to achieve a minimum LEED Silver certification. To be completed by Spring 2013, the building features a green roof, garden terrace and landscape surfaces that will work together to collect rainwater for irrigation and mitigate storm surge impacts.
U Vermont Installs 1,300 Exterior LEDs
The university is replacing more than 1,300 lamps in its exterior light fixtures with energy-saving LED fixtures. The conversion will be completed early this year and is expected to save the university $75,000 annually in electricity costs. The project received funding from the university’s Green Revolving Fund.
U Victoria Students Push for Socially Responsible Investing
Common Energy, a student organization, has begun advocating for more engagement between the university’s academic and social mission and the management of the university’s funds. The organization is asking for the adoption of principles of responsible investing and the formation of institutional structures that allow the university to exercise these principles.
U Wisconsin Receives Gift for Sustainable Technology Program
The university and Viessmann Group have announced a major gift to fund an endowment propelling the university’s new Sustainable Technology program. The “Viessmann Endowed Chair in Sustainable Technology” will allow the university to play an international academic leadership role in renewable energy technologies. The endowment will also fund exchanges for faculty, staff and students, including internships in Germany.
Vassar College Holds Idea Fair for Green Revolving Fund
The College Committee on Sustainability has hosted an Idea Expo that featured project nominations for the Resource Conservation Fund, a green revolving fund. The expo was created to serve as a better tool for community engagement, education and publicity. The 15 applications received represented the largest number in the fund’s three-year history.
Virginia Tech Creates Center for Leadership in Sustainability
The interdisciplinary center, launched by Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, integrates graduate and professional education, research, and engagement activities focused on building partnerships and leadership for environmental sustainability.
Asian School of Business Building Earns LEED Gold
(India): The campus has received the certification under the new construction program of LEED-India. The facility features rainwater harvesting, erosion and sedimentation control measures, and recycled construction materials.
Ben-Gurion U Establishes Renewable Energy Degree
(Israel): The university has established an undergraduate program in renewable energy to begin in 2013. The degree will have a management focus and will contain courses on management, policy and specifics of renewable energy.
Black Hills State U Creates Sustainability Graduate Program
(U.S.): Beginning next fall, the university will offer a graduate degree in sustainability aimed at preparing students for careers in natural resource management, renewable energy, and community planning. Graduates of the program will be prepared for careers in South Dakota-specific industries such as wind energy, hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, green construction techniques, and bio-fuels.
Bowie State U Launches Energy Conservation Campaign
(U.S.): The university has announced plans to launch an advocacy campaign to engage students, faculty and staff in a series of initiatives to reduce campus energy consumption and increase personal commitments to sustainability. A $25,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation will help fund the initiatives. Some initiatives include developing a campus "climate commitment" website, promoting alternative modes of transportation, implementing new technologies for energy conservation, and pursuing LEED certifications for new campus buildings.
Cornell U Receives DOE Grant for Biofuels Research
(U.S.): A research team has received a $910,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to create biofuels produced from algae. The team will design and build a new type of bioreactor that efficiently delivers light and collects fuel produced by algae inside the reactors. The reactor is also expected to use minimal water.
Dundalk IT Earns Green Flag for Campuses Award
(Ireland): The institute has received the Green Flag from the Green Campus Program, an international environmental education and award program that promotes long-term, whole college action for the environment. The institute’s sustainability efforts focus on themes of waste, travel, energy, biodiversity and water.
