The University of Idaho has received a $2.94 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a water resources project that connects the research community with middle and high school classrooms in rural northern Idaho and eastern Washington. The five-year project pairs graduate-level research scientists with middle and high school science teachers to enhance education on water resources through new classroom activities, workshops, and field projects. As part of the program, science topics will be linked to local and regional water resource topics, such as aquifer depletion or the politics of salmon, dams, and Indian Tribes.

Members of the University of Minnesota, Crookston Students in Free Enterprise team have announced two new projects: an effort to launch a recycling program at the Red Lake Nation's high school and middle school and an exploratory look at acquiring funding for one or more wind turbines. After speaking with members of the tribe, the student group decided to help them with two of their main needs – recycling and reducing energy costs through alternative sources. Members of SIFE and of the Red Lake Nation have begun collaborating on the projects.

Purdue University and Vincennes University have begun offering technical training and advanced manufacturing instruction to the hundreds of recreational vehicle production workers in north-central Indiana who recently lost their jobs. Workers can learn new trades, such as precision metalworking, welding, and industrial maintenance. Vincennes will provide technical skills training, and Purdue will teach manufacturing techniques such as lean manufacturing tools, quality systems, sustainability, problem solving, change movement, conflict resolution, and essential communication skills in the workplace. The training is funded by $13 million in state and federal grants.

The Small Business Development Center at the University of Nevada, Reno has received a $125,000 federal grant for projects offering energy-efficiency help to small businesses. The UNR center will help small businesses evaluate their energy efficiency and implement energy-efficiency measures. The efforts might include support with renewable energy technology; green building and construction; and development and commercialization of clean-technology products, goods and services.

The University of Arkansas Community Design Center, an outreach program of the School of Architecture, has won three national awards for a sustainable neighborhood that they designed for the Washington County chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Named Porchscapes , the design won a 2009 American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design; a Progressive Architecture Award in the 56th Annual Progressive Architecture Awards program, sponsored by Architect magazine; and a 2008-09 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award sponsored by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects. These latest awards bring recognition for the project to a total of seven regional and national awards.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has selected 119 U.S. colleges and universities for its 2008 Community Engagement Classification. Colleges and universities with an institutional focus on community engagement were invited to apply for the classification, previously developed and offered in 2006 as part of an extensive restructuring of The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Institutions were classified in one of three categories: Curricular Engagement, Outreach and Partnerships, and Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships. In order to be selected into any of the three categories, institutions had to provide descriptions and examples of institutionalized practices of community engagement that showed alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices

The Worldwatch Institute has published a letter from prominent education and environmental leaders urging the newly nominated U.S. Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, to consider the importance of education in carrying out President-elect Barak Obama's environmental agenda. The letter includes a proposed Presidential agenda that focuses on setting a green buildings standard for renovations and new construction at education institutions, directing 1% of cap-and-trade revenues to green economy curriculum, and funding sustainability and environmental education programs.