Miami U, Antioch College Create Ohio Agrarian Trade Partnership
(U.S.): Miami University’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability has partnered with Antioch College to develop cooperative education relationships in a project called the Ohio Agrarian Trade Partnership. The program will provide students from both institutions the opportunity to work with employers in the Ohio food and agricultural industry.
Nottingham Trent U Future Factory Program Receives Funding
(U.K.): The university’s Future Factory program, which helps small businesses to improve their green credentials, has been awarded an extra £2.2 million in funding to continue until June 2015. The sustainable design project was launched in 2009 to help businesses find creative solutions to enable them to adopt new products, services and business practices that ‘design out’ unnecessary or unsustainable materials and processing, and ‘design in’ features such as environmentally neutral technologies and materials, recyclability and sensitive disposal.
Portland State U Increases Sustainable Food Efforts
(U.S.): The university’s food service provider, Aramark, hired a sustainability intern to track local and organic food purchases with the goal of buying more local food. In addition, in an effort to reduce food packaging and waste, Aramark unveiled a “green box reusable to-go” program and a composting program on campus.
Rice U's Baker College Achieves LEED Silver
(U.S.): The renovation of Baker College has earned the university its tenth LEED certification. Sustainable features include windows that are double-paned with low-e glass, water-efficient plumbing fixtures, and occupancy sensor lights. Almost 90 percent of all construction and demolition waste was recycled.
Syracuse U Faculty Group to Support Fossil Fuel Divestment
(U.S.): In a letter in the university’s Daily Orange, Associate Professor of Political Science Sarah Pralle details why she is leading a faculty group in support of student organizing that is pushing the university to divest its endowments from fossil fuel companies. The letter encourages faculty to support the SU Fossil Fuel
U California Los Angeles Launches Healthy Campus Initiative
(U.S.): The Healthy Campus Initiative will support the enhancement and expansion of current health and wellness efforts; offer new and interesting approaches to exercise, mental health and eating well; encourage the creation of new projects, programs and policies; foster synergies and coordination among the myriad groups and programs that support health and wellness at UCLA; and provide students, staff and faculty with fun and exciting ways to make it easy to be healthy and fit.
U Chicago Campus Dialogue Fund Receives Funding
(U.S.): The Campus Dialogue Fund has been allocated $15,000 annually to bring speaks on social justice issues to campus. The fund was created by students to help raise awareness of issues of race, power, gender and privilege.
U Maine Debuts Composting System
(U.S.): The university’s Dining Services, in collaboration with its Cooperative Extension, has constructed a new composting facility that will convert nearly one ton of food waste from campus dining facilities into compost to be used for grounds and other campus needs.
U Montana Hires Native Americans, Increases Faculty Diversity
(U.S.): As part of its effort to increase faculty diversity, the university recently hired four Native American professors to tenure-track positions. More than a dozen American Indians representing several tribes now hold academic positions. While not all are on track for tenure, those tracking the university’s push for diversity are pleased with the progress.
Unity College Offers Local Organic Milk in Dining Hall
(U.S.): The university’s Dining Services has partnered with Maine’s Own Organic Milk and will begin offering MOOMilk on a daily basis in February. Over the past several semesters, the college has been using MOOMilk as an example of sustainable enterprise, and students have pursued a variety of projects with the company, including visiting family farms and pursuing marketing projects.
Universities Cut Ties with Adidas Over Labor Concerns
(U.S.): Several institutions including Cornell University, Oberlin College, Georgetown University, Rutgers University, and the University of Washington have ended their relationships with Adidas over accusations that the company owed money to workers at an overseas manufacturing plant that closed in 2011.
U South Florida Recertified as Tree Campus USA
(U.S.): The university has been recertified as a Tree Campus USA institution by the Arbor Day foundation for the second year in a row. One of the highlights that led to the recertification was the planting of 1,173 trees on campus in 2012.
U System of Maryland Enters Power Purchase Agreement
(U.S.): In partnership with the State of Maryland, the System has announced plans to enter into a power purchase agreement with Green Planet Power Solutions to purchase a minimum of 10 megawatts of electricity produced from animal waste.
U Wisconsin Oshkosh Biodigester Team Studies New Bioplastic
(U.S.): Researchers and students have begun working with local, regional, national and international companies to test bioplastics in a new Biodigester and also at the connected UW Oshkosh Environmental Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) laboratory. The plastics research testing will focus on the impact of new biodegradable plastics on the environment; the biogas and energy yield of the materials as they decompose; and the readiness of a mass-consumer public to embrace the next-generation materials.
U Wyoming Bim Kendall House Earns LEED Gold
(U.S.): The House, home of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, features solar panels, renewable building and finishing materials, recycling collection, and a green cleaning program. Students participated in the building’s design. The Haub School offers in-person and online tours to teach visitors how the building reduces resource consumption.
Bradley U Alumni Center Awarded LEED Silver
The Hayden-Clark Alumni Center has achieved LEED Silver through a variety of sustainable initiatives including minimizing energy use and reducing water consumption by more than 30 percent. Regional and recycled materials were also used in construction.
Delta College Student Food Pantry Earns Equity in Education Award
The Michigan Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers’ Equity in Education Committee has granted the 2012 Equity in Education Award to the college for its food pantry. The food pantry was recognized for its efforts to eliminate hunger as a barrier to student success.
Florida State U Installs Bike Repair Stations, Safety Lights
The university has installed free-to-use bike repair stations to provide users a variety of tools to fix their broken gears, collapsed chains, and low tires. “Bike boxes,” bright green squares containing a white bicycle logo, have also been installed at campus crosswalks to caution drivers of cyclists sharing the road.
Green Mountain College Students Build Solar Garage
Twenty-one students in the college’s Renewable Energy and Ecological Design course have completed a solar-powered garage that demonstrates an integrative design to optimize the performance of electric vehicles in cold weather climates. The building is a mini power plant that consumes the power it produces while providing a platform for sustainable food production. Inside, the building has a large multifunctional solar wall that provides heat, light and shelving for food production.
Marylhurst University Offers M.S. in Food Systems and Society
The university has announced plans to offer a new Masters of Science in Food Systems and Society beginning fall 2013. The graduate degree program will focus on ideas and practices for improving health, equity and sustainability in the food system.
Mesa College San Diego Buildings Receive LEED Certification
The 85,000-square-foot Student Services Center has achieved LEED Gold certification and uses 40 percent less water inside and 50 percent less outside. The Continuing Education Campus has earned LEED Silver and is expected to reduce total building energy use by 43 percent.
Montana State U Laboratory Earns LEED Gold
The Cooley Laboratory’s sustainable features include water-efficient systems, the reuse of the existing building, passive solar design, recycled and sustainable construction materials, and the diversion of more than 1 million pounds of construction waste from the landfill.
North Central College Debuts First Electric Car Charging Station
The college has installed its first electric vehicle charging station. The station can simultaneously charge two electric vehicles and is free to use for students, faculty or staff. The sustainability coordinator will evaluate the project by collecting data about how often the station is being used and how much greenhouse gases have been reduced.
Oakland U Receives Grant for Organic Urban Farm
The university’s Student Organic Farming Program has received a $20,400 grant from the Americana Foundation. The funding will be matched by the university and will be used to support the hiring of a farm manager to oversee farm production, coordinate student volunteers and assist with community outreach programs designed to improve access to fresh, local produce.
Raritan Valley CC Joins EPA’s Green Power Partnership
The college has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership with its purchase of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). The RECs purchased equal 800,000 kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which is enough energy to meet 10 percent of the college’s electricity use.
Triton College Installs Electric Car Charging Stations
The college has installed several new electric car charging stations. Charging rates for electric vehicles are one dollar an hour for students, faculty, and staff and two dollars an hour for the public. The stations were funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
U California San Diego Awarded $1.9 M for Microgrid Projects
The California Energy Commission has approved a $1.6 million award to increase its previously awarded funding of $1.3 million for the university's electric microgrid. The Commission also approved funding of $220,554 to expand the campus' charging network for plug-in electric vehicles, through the Commission's Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.
U Connecticut Laurel Hall Achieves LEED Gold
The classroom building achieved the highest LEED certification so far at the university. Laurel Hall was designed to include features such as energy-saving window glazing, low-flow valves and faucets, high-performance insulation, and use of rapidly renewable materials such as bamboo and recycled copper. Additional sustainable features include drought-resistant and adaptable plantings, water-efficient bathroom fixtures, and a green roof.
U Dayton Commits to Regional Green Business Certification Program
The university has committed to become part of the Dayton Regional Green 3’s Green Business Certification program The program emphasizes solid waste reduction and recycling, environmentally conscious purchasing, energy conservation, water conservation and pollution prevention. Organizations receive points for each benchmark they reach.
U Georgia Awards Sustainability Grants to Student Projects
The Campus Sustainability Grants Program has awarded $26,000 to seven student projects, including a composting program, a project to reduce stormwater runoff, an automated system for bike sharing, and an after-school gardening and nutrition education program.
U Mass Amherst Debuts Interactive Campus Sustainability Map
The university has unveiled the Campus Sustainability Explorer, an online mapping tool that geographically represents all areas of sustainability on the campus. The Green Building Committee in collaboration with Campus Planning and the Sustainability Initiative developed the tool. The Explorer also acts as a decision support tool for various groups and stakeholder around campus, providing information on existing conditions for a number of academic, facility, and operational aspects.
UMass Amherst Partnership to Reduce Campus Energy Costs
In partnership with Western Massachusetts Electric Company, the university has completed an energy efficiency project expected to save the campus more than $220,000 in energy costs per year and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 metric tons in 2013. The project uses a technique called “continuous commissioning” to identify low-cost operational and maintenance improvements in buildings where the original operating parameters may have changed over the years.
U Michigan Starts Online Sustainability Ambassador Certification
The Planet Blue Ambassadors online certification program allows faculty, staff, and students to receive certificationas sustainability leaders on campus by completing five training modules directly connected to the university's sustainability goals in energy, food, waste, water and community. Each module includes an interactive game with suggestions to get involved, as well as information about the university’s goals and progress to date.
Utah State U Awards Sustainability Grants for Student Projects
The Sustainability Office has awarded $20,946 in Blue Goes Green Student Grant funds for student projects. Project winners include an organic farm program, a master plan for recreation and open space, a new bicycle rack, and a Greek organization recycling program.
Aquinas College Announces Zero Waste Goal
The Center for Sustainability and Students Striving for Sustainability have partnered to work toward campus-wide zero municipal solid waste by 2014. A Zero Waste Team has been created to assist in educational programs concerning the college’s waste streams. With collaboration of faculty, staff, and students, the college will incrementally reduce its waste by 25 percent each semester for the next two years, by expanding campus composting and recycling efforts.
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.
