Sustainability Centers and Programs at Other Universities

 

Brandeis University – Environmental Center

Brandeis University's environmental center, Brandeis Environmental and

Sustainability Team (BEST) is lead by a committee of ten individuals: students and operations employees. BEST is a focal point for environmental activities on Brandeis' campus.

http://www.brandeis.edu/best/index.html

 

Brown University – Environmental Center

Brown University's environmental center, Brown is Green, is an "environmental education and advocacy initiative" that coordinates "student research and education efforts with administrative offices to implement programs that reduce the environmental impacts of operations." Academic research typically deals with resource consumption, and any proposals resulting from said research must be economically feasible. Brown is Green is overseen by a Resource Efficiency Manager and Adjunct Lecturer, who is also directed to create connections between academic student research projects and university operations. Brown is Green works to link campus environmental initiatives, research programs, select courses, and ways of integrating environmentally sound actions into persons' daily lives.

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Brown_Is_Green/about.html

 

Carnegie Mellon University – Green Practice Program

Carnegie Mellon University's Green Practice Program is an environmental initiative that is a portal for campus environmental actions. The Program reports results from research, assessments, and programs within the university, and in the local community. It serves as a link to other environmental practices on Carnegie Mellon's campus. The Green Practices Program is overseen by the Green Practices Committee, which is comprised of four faculty, seventeen staff, and six students. The Committee studies past research and activities and provides recommendations for future environmental actions.

http://www.cmu.edu/greenpractices/background/committee_about.html

 

Case Western Reserve University- Weatherhead Institute for Sustainable Enterprise

The Weatherhead Institute for Sustainable Enterprise has a director and is located in the Weatherhead School of Management. It offers two graduate level courses on sustainability. The Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit (B.A.W.B.) is a global forum for ways leaders in the business sector are putting their people, imagination and assets to work to benefit the earth, from its ecosystem to the needs of its vast, diverse population. Their “Innovation Bank” is a collection of business innovations that create societal good, highlighting the innovation, its context, roots and impacts.

http://weatherhead.case.edu/wise/index.html

 

Columbia Environmental Stewardship Task Force

Columbia's Environmental Stewardship Task Force is a volunteer group of Columbia administrators that consider and implement practical programs to promote a culture that values the environment and acts to protect it. The website provides a list of environmentally related academic programs in multiple departments. Also, it provides links to organizations, volunteering programs, and other colleges and universities. There is also a link to the Environmental Performance Index which ranks countries based on measuring their environmental stewardship

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/environment/ and http://www.columbia.edu/cu/environment/

 

Cornell Sustainable Campus

The sustainability program at Cornell focuses on the environmental and economic aspects of sustainability. Although Cornell offers sustainability related courses, the primary focus of Cornell Sustainable Campus is on operations. In March 2005, the Provost's Taskforce released a proposal for an Institute of Sustainability in Sustainability in the Age of Development. Cornell's administrators have discussed sustainability issues since the late 1990's and have expressed institutional support. Cornell Sustainable Campus recently hired a Sustainability Coordinator, however, there was no mention of this position on the website. Projects that Cornell Sustainable Campus has been involved in include recycling, composting, transportation and green building. 

http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/index.html

 

Dartmouth Office of Sustainability

The Dartmouth Office of Sustainability has a coordinator, three student interns, and a few volunteers. The office is more focused on facilities and student programs. Within the office, the Resource Working Group seeks to change operating policies and practices to help the college become more sustainable.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sustain/

 

Harvard's Office of Sustainability

Harvard's Green Campus Initiative has an Office of Sustainability with a director and two co-chairs, one from facilities and one from academics. They started out with a one-year grant for one staff person. Currently they receive 20% of their funding from the Office of the President and the Provost, while the rest is generated from fees for service and partnerships with various departments. The Resource Efficiency Program employs 20 students to educate and engage other students on sustainability initiatives. The internship program hires student interns during the school year and summer. Other programs include green cleaning methods in campus buildings, developments in green building projects, and switching the campus to renewable energy. 

http://www.greencampus.harvard.edu/

 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology – The Environment at MIT

The Environment at MIT is focused on integrating environmental responsibility into the administrative, curricular, research and operational portions of the university. There are several administrative structures that exist to ensure the environmental mission is carried out. It is unclear from their website if there is an environmental coordinator or what structure, if any, facilitates communication between these various boards. There is the Environmental Programs Office, Council on the Environment, Environmental Health and Safety, and Institute Council on Health and Safety. Administrative leadership is key in addressing environmental responsibility. For example, Chancellor Phillip Clay co-chairs the Council on the Environment and the Environmental Programs Office reports to the Executive Vice President, the Provost and the Chancellor. Actions focusing on environmental responsibility include recycling programs, environmentally-related academic and research opportunities and reducing toxin use. 

http://web.mit.edu/environment/

 

Princeton University- Environmental Oversight Committee and Environmental Institute

Princeton University's Environmental Oversight Committee is the central board for environmental action. The Committee is comprised of fifteen people including faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students. They created a Sustainability Manager in the spring of 2006, who will report to the Engineering and Construction Department.

Princeton Environmental Institute is an overarching program that predominantly deals with environmental academics and research. They oversee the Environmental Studies undergraduate program and the environmentally related graduate programs. The Princeton Environmental Institute also runs outreach programs with local school district focusing on the natural sciences. There is also Greening Princeton, a collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students who run campus programs on energy, recycling, purchasing, construction, and outreach.

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/peoc/index.htm

 

Stanford University – Woods Institute for the Environment

Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment incorporates all seven schools of Stanford as well as independent labs, programs, and organizations to “strengthen environmental infrastructure, foster collaborative technology transfer, [and] promote economic opportunities.”  The Institute includes the Stanford Initiative for Environmental Sustainability. The Institute is led by two directors who are professors that conduct research individually. Also, there is a Faculty Leadership Committee who works with the Institute’s policies. Stanford’s environmental institute offers interdisciplinary study fields, grant programs to provide initial funding for faculty research, non-departmental and departmental research opportunities, and a leadership program that invites professional environmental scientists to learn about communicating their research and knowledge with other professional scientists as well as city officials, businessmen/women, and the public.

http://environment.stanford.edu/index.html

 

Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE)

An interdisciplinary, university-wide education and research institute which facilitates and coordinates environmental programs at the University.  TIE brings together existing environmental efforts at Tufts, and helps to catalyze new research, outreach, service and teaching initiatives.  The distinguishing characteristics of TIE are that it places environmental activities administratively at the center of Tufts in the Provost’s office, yet allows the Institute to be highly responsive to each School through a Steering Committee comprising of representatives from across the university.  Tufts has made a commitment to support the Institute financially, thereby allowing staff time to be dedicated to the work of TIE rather than the administration of the organization.  TIE employs a Senior Director, an Associate Director, and a Program Assistant.

http://www.tufts.edu/tie/

 

University of California, Berkeley – Sustainability Initiative

The University of California, Berkeley's Sustainability initiative is led by the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability as well as two chairs: a graduate student and the Manager for Policy and Programs, Capital Projects, Facilities and Services. The Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS) is comprised of three faculty members, seven staff members, and six students. CACS is designated to advise the University Chancellor on environmental and sustainable issues pertaining to the University. There are five subcommittees: Assessment, Green Fund/Berkeley Environmental Alumni Network, Green Buildings/Clean Energy, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, and Outreach/Awards/Summit.

http://sustainability.berkeley.edu/index.html

 

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania does not have an institute or center based on environmental or sustainable aspects of the University of Pennsylvania. As of 2006 they had a team of Department of Architecture faculty, and the Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services employees to complete four objectives: “develop overall campus sustainability goals, develop environmental audit strategies for campus buildings and procedures, conduct a comprehensive energy audit for selected buildings and produce calibrated performance simulation models for these buildings, identify strategies for achieving campus sustainability goals.”

http://www.gsfa.upenn.edu/bsg/pennsustain/

 

Washington University in St. Louis – Committee on Environmental Quality

Washington's University has a Committee on Environmental Quality (CEQ) which consists of a chair, five faculty, the director of facilities, the director of operations, an Environmental Compliance Officer, and four representatives from student organizations. They are funded ten thousand a year. They provide a lot of information on recycling. Also, a cooperative housing project was endorsed by CEQ.

http://ceq.wustl.edu/default.htm

 

Yale Office of Sustainability

The Yale Office of Sustainability has a director, a number of graduate research assistants, and six committees that report to the Office of Facilities and the Office of the Provost. One committee administrates the Yale Green Fund which provides grants to students, staff, faculty, or Yale groups for activities and projects that will improve Yale's environmental management and performance. The Energy Task Force committee makes recommendations and takes actions on issues that relate to energy production, procurement, demand, and emission reduction and conservation. There is also a marketing and Communication committee that works on publicity.

http://www.yale.edu/sustainability/index.html