University Business - June 2007 - (Page S5)

Getting their hands dirty and feet wet: Students at Portland Community College (left) remove ivy as part of a habitat restoration project in a park adjacent to campus, while Miami Dade College students (right) brave the Florida Everglades as part of an immersion experience. Strapped by tight budgets, community college administrators and staﬀ are used to working within constraints. They are ﬁnding creative ways to ﬁnance sustainability initiatives and to illuminate how sustainable operations can save money. Studer has found that volunteer faculty, staﬀ, and students can turn a one-person sustainability department into a collegewide movement. Working without a budget, she networks with teams of volunteers and existing programs and also identiﬁes point people in each division of the college to help meet important goals and share knowledge. “There are lots of people who are deeply concerned, and rather than start panicking about things, this gives them an outlet so they can do something,” she says. “Green Teams” at ﬁve PCC locations take signiﬁcant responsibility for projects, education, and outreach, and for integrating the college’s sustainability vision into many aspects of campus life. The Sylvania campus Green Team recently completed a waste audit, partnering with the city of Portland to determine how much trash on campus is actually recyclable. At Lane Community College, sustainable practices have saved big money. The college—which is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050—decreased its enuniversitybusiness.com Money Savers ergy usage last year by 16 percent, began purchasing 10 percent wind energy from its electric utility, and installed 1.4 kilowatts of solar electric power, according to Hayward. While Lane is facing a potential cut of more than 10 percent of its budget over the next two years, the Sustainability Oﬃce has been responsible for about $240,000 in energy savings and $60,000 in savings from recycling during the 2005-2006 ﬁscal year. These savings pay for the three fulltime salaries in the Sustainability Oﬃce, says Hayward. sustainability is just something everybody does,” he says. “Community colleges are really well positioned to handle that goal.” Caryn Meyers Fliegler is a former editor at University Business. Resources American Association of Community Colleges, www.aacc.nche.edu American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org Consortium for Education in Renewable Energy Technology, http://matcmadison.edu/ceret Higher Education Associations’ Sustainability Consortium, www.heasc.net Lane Community College, www.lanecc.edu/sustainability Los Angeles Community College District, www.laccd.edu and www.propositiona .org/green_room.html Miami Dade College Earth Ethics Institute, www.earthethicsinstitute.org Partnership for Environmental Technology Education, www.ateec.org/pete Portland Community College, www.pcc.edu/sustainability U.S. Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, www.uspartnership.org Community Connectors All higher ed institutions network with their neighbors. But for community colleges, educating and serving the community comprise their primary reasons for being. As the movement to integrate sustainability into everything we do grows, community colleges can have a considerable impact. “Community colleges play a crucial role, not only in educating the technicians and designers that we need to make this transition but also in educating the general public,” says OCC’s Rowe. “This won’t happen unless the public gets informed and demands diﬀerent kinds of products and processes.” Eisenberg of LACCD also believes twoyear institutions can have major inﬂuence. “The goal is to transform our society so that June 2007 | S5 PHOTO BY CHRIS MIGLIACCIO http://www.aacc.nche.edu http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org http://matcmadison.edu/ceret http://www.heasc.net http://www.lanecc.edu/sustainability http://www.laccd.edu http://www.propositiona.org/green_room.html http://www.propositiona.org/green_room.html http://www.earthethicsinstitute.org http://www.ateec.org/pete http://www.pcc.edu/sustainability http://www.uspartnership.org http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - June 2007

Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Virginia Tech Coverage
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Admissions
On The Hill
Future Shock
Independent Outlook
Internet Technology
I Wanna Be Rich
Smart and Sustainable
Walking the Talk
Steering Toward Sustainability
An Organizing Principle for Colleges and Universities
News Shorts
News Shorts
It’s Not Easy Eating Green
Facilities Focus
The New Face of ERP
Document Management Across Campus
What's New
Direct Connect
Calendar of Events
End Note
Annual Directory of Higher Education Consultants

University Business - June 2007