U Michigan Relocates Tree Older than University
After a petition urging the university to save the 200-year-old tree located where the business school expansion has been planned, donors factored the relocation of the tree into the overall cost of the project.
U North Texas Boosts Recycling Efforts
Spurring new outdoor collection bins and installation of solar trash compactors, a recent university study found that when recycling bins were readily available diversion efforts increased from 20-30 percent to 80-90 percent.
U Utah Student Receives Sustainability Award
Kathleen Hunt, dining services sustainability coordinator and doctoral student, won the 2014 Green Champion Student Award for outstanding leadership, participation and promotion of sustainable effort in dining by the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS).
10 Chicago Institutions Commit to Reduce Energy Use
The ten schools that recently signed onto the Retrofit Chicago’s Commercial Buildings Initiative, which commits to a 20 percent energy reduction, are City Colleges of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University, Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, School of the Art Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Chicago.
14 Institutions Earn STARS Rating
As part of AASHE's ongoing efforts engage and recognize the full spectrum of colleges and universities, once per month the Bulletin will publish the names of those institutions that have recently submitted for a STARS rating. Having acquired a rating in July, congratulations to Bentley University, Colgate University, Colorado College, Concordia College Moorhead, Emory University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Macalester College, Okanagan College, Smith College, Stanford University, University of New Hampshire, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Vassar College and Western Michigan University.
Auburn U Restores Campus Creek
Giving students, faculty and the community the ability to learn more about water resources, facilities recently restored the ecological function of the creek and included an outdoor classroom.
Concordia U Cuts Water Consumption
The university has enacted a new program to reduce water consumption at two campuses by 20 percent over the next three years, which includes facility upgrades and a water consumption awareness campaign for students, faculty and staff.
Dartmouth College Purchases Energy Credits
Part of an ongoing $16 million grant to improve campus sustainability, the college’s newly installed windows and light fixtures and $50,000 of clean energy credits, equal to 7.3-million kilowatt-hours of energy, has helped the community earn recognition as a Green Power Community by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Kentucky State U Raises Employee Wages
After learning that the lowest paid employees were earning $7.25 per hour, the university's interim president is recompensing those employees by forgoing $90,000 of his annual income in order to create a living wage.
North Carolina State U Receives APPA Sustainability Award
Designed to recognize leadership and sustainability advancements in facilities, this Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA) award, announced in August 2014, honors the university for maintenance and operations, energy and utility use, and planning and construction.
NPR: How to Grow Green Energy and Endowments [Audio]
National Public Radio's Marketplace investigates Sustainable Endowments Institute's Billion Dollar Green Challenge and Green Revolving Investment Tracking System (GRITS) to advance the idea of a rolling green fund to finance sustainability projects.
Princeton Review Releases Green Rating
Aiding students in their decision to apply to or attend a school, the Green Rating project, now in its seventh year, has reported its annual rating of 861 colleges and universities based upon their sustainability-related practices, policies and academic offerings.
Roosevelt U Students Initiate Green Projects
Sustainability interns have cultivated a rooftop garden, with more than 100 pounds of produce donated to campus dining, and are preparing a sustainability plan using skills learned in the sustainability studies program.
Smith College Students Engage in Community Garden
In its first year out of the pilot program, the college offers students the opportunity to increase knowledge and hands on learning about sustainable food through managing the daily operations of the garden in collaboration with Dining Services. Harvested food is donated to local nonprofits or sold to students.
U Pennsylvania Buildings Receive LEED Gold
The university's new nanotechnology science building features high-efficiency mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment for public spaces, 90 percent waste diversion of construction material, natural light, low volatile compound emitting interior finish materials, two green roofs and outside public community spaces. The second certified space, an addition, includes green roofs and community common areas.
U Pennsylvania Program Advances Sustainability in Curriculum
A student selected to participate in the Penn Green Campus Partnership's Integrating Sustainability Across the Curriculum recently spent eight weeks with two professors to examine sources from which to include relevant supplemental readings and conducted research for a joint paper on business contributions toward environmental protection.
U Texas Completes Solar Charging Stations
As part of its mission to support environmental-conscious campus initiatives, the university recently hooked up two new charging stations that convert solar energy into electricity and can charge up to six cell phones, laptops or electrical bikes at a time.
Yale U Takes New Steps to Divert Waste
In addition to mattress recycling, the university's athletics department now donates unused high jump and pole vault mats to local schools to achieve its goal of 50 percent waste diversion rate by June 2016.
'Best College Rankings' Releases Green College List
The website bestcollegerankings.org recently announced its ranking of 100 U.S. colleges and universities that teach sustainable practices, offer community outreach, and manage sustainability-focused websites.
Coastal Carolina U Launches Transportation Program
Aiding the campus' efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle and create a cleaner environment, Teal Transportation brings together biking, car sharing, ridesharing and the campus shuttle in one convenient program, which was promoted at orientation events.
Colorado College Sells Produce to Public
Students from the college have begun selling produce from a college-owned, 1.5-acre, student-operated farm to the public in addition to its food service provider.
ELECTRI Green Energy Challenge Names Three Finalist Teams
ELECTRI International’s annual student competition has identified Colorado State University, Iowa State University and San Diego State University for the 2014 competition, which asked teams to select a student use facility, conduct an energy audit of the building's power and lighting systems, and design and propose a retrofit for both.
Inside Higher Ed: LGBTQ Presidents Organize
With the number of openly gay college presidents on the rise, the LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education will host a conference for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer academics who want to climb the college leadership ladder. The conference, LGBTQ Leaders in Higher Education: Shaping Our Futures, will be held in June 2015.
Ohio State U to Use Solar Energy
A recently started installation of a 101-kilowatt photovoltaic array atop the the university's recreation center is expected to save money and diversify its energy portfolio with clean energy.
Technical College of Lowcountry Adds Solar Program
To help people find jobs in the solar industry, the college now offers a certificate course that will teach students how to install and maintain two types of solar technology systems, photovoltaics and solar thermal.
U Iowa Installs Green Roof
Located on the university's Health Science Campus, the sedum-covered roof acts as a rainwater retention feature, reducing runoff impacts to the watershed, and assists in energy conservation through reducing heating and cooling load.
U Maryland Donates Plants to Dorm Residents
Modeled after the university's Green Office Program, the Green Dorm Room Project, students living in residence halls will receive green plants to decorate their rooms and improve air quality.
Western Michigan Building Earns LEED Gold
The new 230,000-square-foot building features on-site storm water retention, 975 rooftop solar panels with a 1/4 megawatt annual output suppling at times more than the building's use, energy-efficient lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and a green roof.
Anne Arundel CC Names First Diversity Officer
(U.S.): As part of the college's commitment to diversity and inclusiveness, the new Chief Diversity Officer, James A. Felton III, will take a leadership role in meeting the needs of the college’s increasingly diverse student body while building an inclusive climate on campus. Before coming to the community college, Felton was the inaugural Director for Intercultural Affairs and an adjunct instructor for Human Services at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
Doak College Operates a Paper Recycling Unit
(India): In an effort to become more environmentally-friendly, service-learning students from the Botany Department course on Waste Paper Management collect paper materials used across all departments and recycles it into paper for college invitations and program brochures.
East Kent College Opens Center for Environmental Technologies
(U.K.): The newly opened research center provides an opportunity for students to gain skills in the renewable energy, engineering and construction sectors. The building containing the center features electrical and mechanical systems on display to cross-pollinate with curriculum, solar electric and solar thermal technology, rainwater harvesting to flush toilets, and equipment to measure both energy generated and used. The building earned Excellent by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
Lock Haven U to Offer Sustainability Degree
(U.S.): Attempting to connect with the state's growing green jobs industry, the university's new Associates of Arts degree in Sustainability Studies is developed from its Environmental Studies minor and will include courses in conservation law, business, social work, economics and environmental justice.
Okehampton College Wins Green Energy Performance
(U.K.): The college's recent entry into the British Gas Generation Green Energy Performance won first prize of 150,000 pounds ($256,000) due to the specially commissioned dance floor, which captures the energy created by students’ dance steps and converts it to electricity.
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College Awarded New Campus Funds
(U.K.): The college's Gloucestershire Renewable Energy, Engineering and Nuclear project has been awarded five million pounds ($8.5 million) from the government for the first phase of the new campus, which will focus on engineering and technology with an emphasis on low-carbon energy generation.
U Connecticut Invests in Sports Waste Reduction Campaign
(U.S.): University of Connecticut students encourage recycling at university basketball games through the Green GameDays campaign. At halftime, volunteers reminded game patrons to recycle items such as cardboard and plastic bottles. At the end of the game a total of 1,080 bottles were collect for recycling.
U Haifa Launches New Sustainability MBA Program
(Israel): The university's new Global Green Masters of Business Administration program focuses on the environmental, social and governance issues at the heart of business managers' responsibilities.
U Virginia to Begin Bike Sharing Program
(U.S.): Later this summer, the university will unveil a fleet of 120 rentable bicycles in an effort to give the community a midday alternative transportation option.
Virginia Tech Establishes Presidential Diversity Council
(U.S.): The university, where only three percent of the undergraduate student body is Black, according to the latest Department of Education data, has established a new President’s Inclusion and Diversity Executive Council that will oversee all of the university’s diversity efforts.
Energy Dept Funds Building Energy Efficiency Research
The University of Florida at Gainesville, Stony Brook University, University of Maryland, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville were selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for nearly $6 million toward incubator projects to improve heating, ventilation and air conditioning, water heating, sensors and controls, and building energy modeling.
Haverford College Releases Online Dashboard
With the release of the new, online-accessible system, the college hopes to reduce electricity usage by allowing visitors to track real-time electricity usage on a daily, weekly and yearly basis in 14 campus buildings.
