UNH On 'Green Honor Roll' Of Top 11 Sustainable Colleges
By Beth Potier, Media Relations
August 6, 2008
UNH is one of 11 universities nationwide to receive the top score in a new “Green
Rating” of colleges, The Princeton Review announced today. The Princeton
Review collected data from 534 schools in the 2007–08 academic year to
tally numerical scores from 60 to 99 that measure how environmentally friendly
schools are in their policies, practices and academic offerings. UNH, with
a perfect score of 99, is on The Princeton Review’s “Green Honor
Roll.”
“At UNH, we organize everything we do around sustainability, so it’s
an honor to receive this recognition,” said President Mark W. Huddleston. “I’m
encouraged that students and families are considering a college’s commitment
to meeting environmental challenges the same way they look at majors or dining
options.”
“The Princeton Review’s survey captured our comprehensive approach
to integrating sustainability across our curriculum, operations, research and
engagement,” said Tom Kelly, UNH’s chief sustainability officer
and director of the University Office of Sustainability. “Credit for
this recognition goes to UNH’s engaged students, faculty and staff, whose
ongoing creative work has helped us embrace sustainability so thoroughly.”
The Princeton Review developed the Green Rating in consultation with ecoAmerica.
The criteria for the rating (which ecoAmerica helped formulate along with the
rating’s data collection survey and methodology) cover three broad areas:
whether the school’s students have a campus quality of life that is healthy
and sustainable, how well the school is preparing its students for employment
and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges, and the school's
overall commitment to environmental issues. The institutional survey for the
rating included questions on everything from energy use, recycling, food, buildings,
and transportation to academic offerings (availability of environmental studies
degrees and courses) and action plans and goals concerning greenhouse gas emission
reductions.
Joining UNH on the Green Honor Roll of colleges that scored 99 are New England
colleges Bates College (Maine), College of the Atlantic (Maine), Harvard College
(Mass.) and Yale University (Conn.). Completing the list are Arizona State
University at the Tempe campus, Binghamton University (N.Y.), Emory University
(Ga.), Georgia Institute of Technology (Ga.), University of Oregon, and University
of Washington.
UNH, home of the nation's first endowed office of sustainability in higher
education, is a leader in conserving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
and integrating sustainability throughout its curricula, operations, research,
and engagement efforts. Committed to being a climate protection campus that
pursues a sustainable energy future through emissions reduction policies, practices,
research, and education, UNH has earned several awards for its sustainability
initiatives, which range from composting and supporting local, sustainable
agriculture to using compressed natural gas- and biodiesel-powered vehicles
and being the first in the nation to receive an EPA Energy Star building rating
for residence halls. Discover the sustainable learning community at sustainableunh.unh.edu and discoversustainability.org.
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